By David Ortiz
The Westerly Hospital last week presented plans to a state board to build a 12-bed inpatient geriatric psychiatry program in an existing wing of its campus.
The $1.7 million project would create a ward to provide care specific to the needs of elderly psychiatric patients, who typically suffer from depression and anxiety brought on by late-life losses, declining health or financial hardship, and behavioral or neurological disorders associated with dementia, Parkinson’s disease and stroke, the hospital said.
Many elderly psychiatric patients also suffer from adverse reactions to combinations of several medications, said hospital spokesman David Tranchida.
Geriatric psychiatry is a growing field – nationally, more than 2,500 doctors have been certified as specialists since 1991, when it was first recognized as a subspecialty, according to the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
In Rhode Island, mental illness among the elderly is on the rise and often goes untreated, according to Chaz Gross, executive director of the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Geriatric psychiatric units already exist at Butler Hospital and Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence. But agencies throughout the state that provide geriatric mental health services in a day-program setting report that they don’t have the resources needed to care for the growing population of mentally ill elderly, Gross said.
“There’s definitely a need for more services geared towards elders with mental-health issues,” Gross said. “There are a lot of challenges involved in treating elders, so any kind of specialized geriatric unit is a good idea.”
The proposed geriatric psychiatry program would accept all patients older than 65, including those who receive Medicare or Medicaid, or are uninsured. The hospital expects the 12-bed ward would be fully utilized on a regular basis, Tranchida said.
The unit would be housed in the hospital’s former medical care wing, which was vacated in 2003 when a new, three-story emergency room and patient wing were built.
Because the hospital does not currently provide psychiatric services, it would contract with Horizon Health to run the unit and provide its medical director, psychiatric director and resident psychiatrist. The hospital would provide staff nurses and a social worker, Tranchida said.
On Oct. 24, a review committee of the state Health Services Council, which advises Health Director Dr. David R. Gifford on applications for new health care facilities or services, held a hearing on the hospital’s application for a so-called “certificate of need” for the new program.
The full council is expected to rule on the application in December, and then would pass on its recommendations to Gifford, who would make the final decision.
Next fall is the earliest The Westerly Hospital would begin renovations to prepare the unit, Tranchida said.
