Jefferson Hospital now offering mental health treatment
Augusta ChronicleNov 17, 2021
Nov. 17—Since cutting the ribbon opening its new
"
Martin said that there is a significant shortage of beds for patients who need behavioral health services across the state. This center has been under development for years and the hospital applied for its first certificate of need in 2015. The unit is unique for this region and is expected to serve patients from
"We had a group come in yesterday that could potentially be organizations that would send us patients, nursing homes and long-term care facilities," Martin said. "We brought them in to see the unit and so we could answer any questions about the referral process."
The unit is prepared to serve any patient with a behavioral diagnosis, including patients with dementia and other disorders.
"When COVID hit a lot of elderly patients who were in assisted living and nursing home facilities could no longer receive visitors and their mental state was impacted," Bellinger said. "Some felt that 'nobody loves me,' 'where's my family.'"
The unit at
"We'll do some substance abuse as well, but we won't necessarily do detox, but we will take those patients once they have detoxed," Bellinger said. "We'll do a lot of medication management dealing with psychotropic medications for those different diagnosises like schizophrenia, bipolar maybe borderline personality, catering to a population, we're saying 55 and above."
Other facilities, even in
For more information about
___
(c)2021 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.)
Visit The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.) at chronicle.augusta.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.