St. Mary's Hospital's psychiatric in-patient unit has once again opened its doors after a months-long closure.
Since Tuesday, the six-bed facility is now available for 24-hour support and supervision, seven days a week. The unit first opened on the hospital's second floor in July 2005 but closed in March of this year due to a nursing shortage. During that time, in-patient mental health patients who would have been referred to the unit instead remained on the first floor with medical patients. The unit's acting managers - Nora Koros, Vancouver Coastal Health's (VCH) manager of mental health and addiction services in Powell River, and Edie Bessler, manager of Totem Lodge in Sechelt - say VCH is committed to ensuring the unit does not close again.
"We're very committed to keeping it open," Bessler said.
Koros explained that VCH wanted to ensure all the staffing was in place before re-opening the unit too soon. The unit's staffing list now includes six regular staff nurses and a "robust" list of casual nurses, Koros said. The unit will now have two staff on at a time, whereas before the closure it was single-staffed. Three psychiatrists are available for the unit's patients.
Recruitment is underway for a new Sunshine Coast director of mental health and addiction services to replace Paul Charron, who has retired. The new manager will likely be announced in the next month.
Koros said the patients referred to the unit may have suffered a psychotic episode in which they are a danger to themselves or to others and whose mental health cannot be maintained in the community. The unit provides a safe and secure place for treatment, she added, and also offers group programming. Patients stay at the unit for an average of two weeks before transitioning back into the community.
"They continue with the support when they're in the community," Bessler said. Koros added that all the mental health and addictions services staff are well-connected with the unit, so the services patients receive should be "seamless and ongoing."
Koros explained the mental health unit aims to be close to a home environment and encourages patients to get up and into a daily routine and structured programs, unlike the medical unit.
Powell River - Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons heard from his constituents on the impacts of the unit closing.
"The original opening of the unit was poorly planned and rushed," Simons said this week. "Before it opened, health care professionals said that VCH was not ready. Poor planning and the resulting sudden closure caused serious harm to patients and their families and undermined confidence in the system.
"The re-opening will meet a need that has been identified by the community as an essential component in the continuum of care that includes the mental health team as well as Arrowhead."
