CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has purchased a site on Hamilton Avenue in College Hill to be used for a 46-bed residential psychiatric treatment center for children and adolescents, ages 10 to 16. The center is expected to open in July 2002.
The 10-acre site formerly housed Emerson North Hospital and most recently was home to Phoenix International. Cincinnati Children's also has the option to purchase 16 acres of land immediately adjacent to the property.
The purchase of the facility by Cincinnati Children's was supported by the College Hill community, which had protested another proposed use of the site. The listing company was Grubb & Ellis/West Shell Commercial.
Community crisis: The shortage of psychiatric services
As has been widely reported, there is a severe shortage of psychiatric treatment options in Greater Cincinnati. Pediatric healthcare providers consistently report they cannot find caregivers or agencies for their patients who require mental health care.
While there has been an increase in the rate of psychosocial problems identified in children, many psychiatric hospitals have closed their doors. Psychiatric residential centers that offered extended inpatient treatment have transitioned to providing only partial or day hospital services, and crisis intervention programs have closed or cut back.
In Cincinnati, there currently are approximately 80 overnight psychiatric beds, including both inpatient and residential care beds. By comparison, Louisville has 220 psychiatric beds and Columbus has 180. These cities have smaller populations than the Greater Cincinnati area.
Many local families have been forced to send their children out of the area for care or simply have not had access to appropriate services. At any given time, Hamilton County needs to place 50 to 70 children in out-of-area facilities.
At Cincinnati Children's, the emergency department has been overwhelmed by the influx of psychiatric patients, with visits increasing from 800 in 1995 to more than 2,000 last year. All too often, children cycle through the emergency department and medical inpatient units until a psychiatric bed becomes available at Cincinnati Children's or a vacancy opens at a distant residential treatment facility.
New facility for extended treatment
For more than 20 years, Cincinnati Children's has focused on the acute care of children whose mental health needs require hospitalization. To find a solution to the current crisis, however, an expanded mission is necessary. By opening a residential psychiatric treatment center, Cincinnati Children's will:
- Provide children, adolescents and families with services of the appropriate intensity and length of time required for chronic mental illness and impaired functioning.
- Reduce the need for families to leave the community to find help.
- Reduce the waiting time for children to receive mental health care.
The College Hill center will serve 10-16 year olds who have emotional and psychological illnesses, such as mood disorders, or illnesses resulting from trauma, physical abuse or sexual abuse. These are patients who require a more extended period of treatment than can be accommodated at local hospitals. The average length of stay is expected to be three to nine months.
While the center will strive to maintain a home-like atmosphere, as in a hospital setting, patients will be under constant supervision. Staff will include social workers, mental health specialists, recreational therapists, behavior specialists, mental health aids and nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech and occupational therapists, teachers, site supervisors and case managers.
