Page 27 - Layout 1

This is a SEO version of Layout 1. Click here to view full version

« Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page »
healthcarejournalbr.com | July / August 2008 Issue |
Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge
27
disorders, mental health, and developmental disabilities. It
also has modules on effective communication skills and de-
escalation tactics. Twenty-two officers had been trained as
of June, with a second class underway that month. Local
law enforcement agencies across the seven parishes cur-
rently receive 3,350 behavioral health crisis calls and trans-
port 5,300 people in crisis to EDs annually.
The Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU): A specialized Emergency
Department (ED), staffed by mental health professionals to
manage behavioral health crises, is to be sited at Earl K.
Long Hospital this fall. The CIU is designed to serve those
individuals suffering from serious mental illness residing
within the seven parishes of the Capital District who pres-
ent either to a public Community Mental Health Clinic,
Addictive Disorders Clinic or are otherwise identified (by
law enforcement, coroner, etc.) as experiencing an emer-
gency behavioral health condition or crisis situation (e.g.
the individual's need may be such that they require treat-
ment to reduce the likelihood of death, harm to self or oth-
ers, serious injury or deterioration of physical condition, or
a major setback in their condition or illness). Currently,
approximately 8,400 individuals in this community have this
need annually and are seen in all existing emergency
departments. Once this unit opens, all citizens meeting this
criterion will be taken to the CIU. Services include triage,
observation, assessment, and stabilization or discharge
into a higher level of care, or referral and linkage to ongo-
ing services in the community.
Medical Case Management: It was determined that many
people with chronic mental illness use the emergency
department to access primary care services since they
have no assigned or ongoing provider, much like others
without health insurance. One approach currently being uti-
lized is a partnership with CAHSD and Our Lady of the Lake
Regional Medical Center (OLOL). The OLOL Mobile Clinic
is providing primary care at the Baton Rouge Mental Health
Clinic (BRMHC) and The Center for Addictive Disorders
once a month, to clients who do not have a primary care
provider. The Mobile Clinic is able to provide some basic
diagnostics and labs and is staffed by a licensed nurse
practitioner. It can provide care to 20 patients per day.
Another initiative is a serious focus on tobacco cessation
for all public behavioral health clients. There are multiple
other approaches currently being implemented to address
the need for medical care by this vulnerable population,
identified by the Centers for Disease Prevention and
Control to die of common medical needs typically 25 years
before their age cohort in the community.
v