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Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 8-10:45 a.m., Napa Valley Marriott, Napa

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Sonoma County calls meeting on mental health

COLLABORATION SOUGHT TO FILL CRITICAL NEW GAP IN PATIENT SERVICES

SONOMA COUNTY – The county of Sonoma Department of Health Service’s Mental Health Division has invited health care leaders from every hospital to participate in a collaborative meeting aimed at finding a home for inpatient psychiatric care in Sonoma County.

“We don’t expect to solve everything in this meeting, but it will lay the ground work for working collaboratively towards a solution,” said Sonoma County Health Services Director Rita Scardaci.

Last week, the county sent letters to officials at Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Sonoma Valley Hospital, Petaluma Health Care District, Healdsburg District Hospital, Palm Drive Hospital and other health stakeholders inviting them to join in on a discussion on mental health on April 23.

“For me, I would like a better understanding of the overall plan and the direction of the mental health division,” said Petaluma Health Care District Chief Executive Officer Daymon Doss. “I definitely don’t think we should expect one entity, whether it be the county or St. Joe or Sutter, to provide all mental health services in the county. I believe a partnership is the only appropriate way to really create a true mental health system, and I am excited the county is taking this step to work together.”

Ms. Scardaci said that although the county does have some acute-care mental health services, a significant gap has been left in the county since Memorial officially closed its inpatient psychiatric care unit last week.

“This is not a problem that is unique to our community – all throughout the state the mental health industry is fractured,” said Healdsburg District Hospital Chief Executive Officer Evan Rayner. “But I think this will be an exceptional opportunity for us to look at the problem together.”

Currently, Sonoma has three county-run venues for acute care including psychiatric emergency services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week; crisis stabilization available for 23-hour stays; and a crisis residential facility for voluntary acute care.

The 24-hour emergency services are meant to evaluate patients and decide where they should be treated. Crisis stabilization provides up to 23 hours of care for patients in mental emergencies, and the residential facility provides a home for patients who voluntarily ask for long-term care.

“But for patients who cannot be stabilized in the crisis facility and will not voluntarily enter the residential unit, they now have to leave the county,” Ms. Scardaci said. “We have had plans for sometime to develop a psychiatric health facility with a partner, and I think this meeting will advance the discussion regarding this and other ideas.”

Jo Sandersfeld, vice president of mission integration for St. Joseph Health System–Sonoma County, will attend the meeting on behalf of Memorial Hospital, along with other representatives, and said this meeting will be very important for the future of mental health in the county.

“We have had smaller meetings on the issue in the past, but we are in a unique position now since Memorial’s facility closed,” she said. “When you have a resource, you look at things differently. When you no longer have those, it takes all the creative energy available to see how we can come up with an alternative together.”

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