The demand for mental health services exploded during the pandemic and the country’s healthcare system is buried under the demand, said Ken Dunham, the executive director of medical operations for Sentara’s Behavioral Health Division.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness now says one in five adults experiences mental illness each year.
“It’s actually impossible to take care of everybody's current need, and and we estimate we probably won't have enough people to take care of them until 2050,” Dunham said. “Until then, we have to be as creative and open as possible to get people's adequate access, because there's a lot of people out there that are suffering.”
Last month, Sentara opened its first dedicated behavioral health clinic on the Peninsula, the latest in its efforts to tackle the ever-growing demand.
Dunham said many people were showing up to the emergency department at Sentara’s Careplex hospital in Hampton for mental health issues. Sometime it was for acute needs, like suicidal thoughts, that would require hospitalization.
“But we also have a whole lot of patients who go there for stuff that probably could have been taken care of at a doctor's office or a psychiatrist's office or therapist’s office, but they're going there because they have no other options,” he said.
The new clinic is meant to head off those cases before they arrive at the ER.
Riverside, a competing health system, also runs a behavioral health facility on the Peninsula and opened the state’s first dedicated psychiatric ER late last year.
With a staff of five, Sentara’s new Peninsula clinic will serve around 6,000 patients each year. Sentara is planning a similar clinic in Charlottesville, which is set to open in the spring of 2025.
Dunham said part of the growth in behavioral health needs is not just more issues, but greater acceptance. Lessening stigma around mental health, especially among younger generations, has meant more people are inclined to seek help.
During the pandemic, when people were generally staying home and working remotely, Dunham said telemedicine appointments made it easy to see a mental health professional.
But with more people returning to work, it’s harder for people to slot appointments with a therapist into their weekdays.
Sentara’s behavioral health clinic in Virginia Beach, which launched in 2022, started booking virtual appointments on evenings and Saturdays earlier this year.
“It's helped get access to a lot of folks who wouldn't otherwise get it,” Dunham said. The expanded hours have translated to care for about 90 additional patients each month.
But there’s still a lot of work to do. Statewide, Dunham said the wait time for a hospital bed for someone in crisis is 30 hours —- much longer than if you showed up to an emergency room with a broken leg, he noted.
“That's probably one of the biggest, toughest issues that every healthcare system in the nation is facing right now.”
Dunham said Sentara put psychiatrists and therapists in emergency rooms to start treatment immediately when acute cases come in and the wait for a bed in the system is down to about 18 hours.
“But still, 18 hours, that's a long time to sit and wait,” he said.
