— demand for mental health care overwhelms supply, creating bottlenecks like the one Melinda is about to enter.
Melinda’s first 10 days are spent in a hospital lecture hall with 11 or so other children, on gurneys, separated by curtains because the emergency room has run out of space. This is becoming more common across Massachusetts. Aearlier this year found a quarter of all beds, on average, occupied by mental health patients of all ages waiting for a psych bed.
“Each time, it’s the same routine,” says Pam, starting with Melinda being rushed to an ER. Then, after a couple of days there, “She goes to a facility, she stays there for seven to 10 days and comes home.” “We’ve heard waits as long as five weeks or more for outpatient therapy,” she says. “If your child is saying they don’t want to live or don’t want to ever get out of bed again, you don’t want to wait five weeks.”As the wait drags on, Melinda bounces from manic highs to deep emotional lows. The emergency room is a holding area for patients who need psychiatric care. It isn’t set up to offer treatment or therapy. A mental health clinician stops in once a day to check on her.
“It takes a case-by-case approach,” says Ward. “It’s really hands-on, but we have very good success with some of the very difficult patients to place.”Pam is told her daughter may be harder to place than other children who don’t act out. Hospitals say they look for patients who will be a good fit for their programs and other children there for treatment. Melinda’s chart includes the attempted escape as well as some fights with other patients and staff while she was housed in the lecture hall.
Pam pauses for a moment in the car after pulling into the parking lot of the hospital for a visit with her daughter.
This is a very important story. Something needs to change here because it's completely unacceptable. What a nightmare that must be. Thank you for reporting on it.