BERNALILLO — Sandoval Regional Medical Center President and CEO Jamie Silva-Steele described the current behavioral health landscape as the “next pandemic” during Wednesday’s Sandoval County Commission meeting.
“It’s unfortunate, but I think that’s where we are. If you look at not just us, but everywhere, this is the trend that everyone is seeing right now,” Silva-Steele told the Observer. “Right now, our job is to try to find strategies to address it.”
During the second half of 2021, SRMC saw the need for behavioral health services increase significantly.
The numbers presented by Silva-Steele for July 2021 to November 2021 include:
- 60 percent increase in monthly outpatient behavioral health visits.
- 41 percent increase in behavioral health service in the emergency department.
- 21 percent increase in inpatient psychiatric diagnoses.
- 27 percent increase in overall behavioral health-related encounters.
Silva-Steele told the Observer the dramatic increases SRMC is experiencing are in part related to social isolation and distance between people during the pandemic. As a result, he said, people may use substances and alcohol as a means of coping.
He also said the other part of the picture is underlying behavioral health issues that have historically gone unaddressed due to things like lack of access to services.
“For years, access to behavioral health has been at a standstill,” he said. “So our ability to provide these services to members of the community is the reason we exist. That is our goal.”
Jamie Silva-Steele, president and CEO of Sandoval Regional Medical Center, provides the hospital’s latest quarterly update during the Sandoval County Commission meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (Matt Hollinshead/Observer)
She said one of the main concerns SRMC hears is the growing need for behavioral health services.
Because it is not a psychiatric hospital, Silva-Steele said SRMC would have to add a new, secure unit to accommodate inpatient psychiatric beds. She said it’s not part of the hospital’s current infrastructure, but could be reassessed during SRMC’s regular strategic planning period.
At the moment, Silva-Steele said inpatient psychiatric care takes place at UNM Hospital, the psychiatric center in Albuquerque, or one of SRMC’s community partners with inpatient beds.
Silva-Steele said SRMC has added psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors, which is increasing the number of referrals and patient volumes.
With more people seeking help, Silva-Steele told the Observer SRMC is trying to stay ahead. After adding providers last year, he said the hospital anticipates adding more providers this coming fiscal year.
“We’re going to monitor to see what that’s like,” he said. “It seems like as we add (providers), more patients come in, which is not a bad thing because that’s what we want to be able to do, provide the service,” she said. “It is difficult to know the demand for services. And you really don’t know until you add the provider that takes care of the patients and the access.”
Possible next steps
Silva-Steele told the Observer SRMC is looking to bolster things like Zoom appointments between providers and patients for better and faster access.
He also said that SRMC is exploring peer support strategies that involve a “buddy system” approach.
Monitoring of detainees in jail
Silva-Steele told the Observer SRMC immediately contacted three out of 10 inmates at the Sandoval County Detention Center to discuss behavioral health service plans, but is still working to reach the other seven, the last it had heard from.
“A lot of people don’t generally know what resources are available in communities,” he said. “Our job with this particular show is to educate them and find out what things are creating barriers for (them) right now.”
She also said a caseworker with SRMC can help address specific needs, whether someone is struggling to pay bills or doesn’t have a phone.
Collaboration in the community outreach program
Silva-Steele said SRMC is launching a program that works with Rio Rancho Public Schools, Bernalillo High School and first responders to address mental health first aid, which features an adolescent and youth component, and suicide prevention. .
“If someone is in a crisis, everyone knows how to react, what to do and how to get the person to a safe place… For me, this is something that becomes part of our toolbox,” Silva-Steele told the Observer.
She said SRMC also plans to expand the program to rural and tribal communities in the county, adding that the hospital is already working with the Cuban Independent School District.
