Spirits were high, and ribbons were cut after Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital opened its EmPATH Unit — which stands for Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment, and Healing — on Monday evening.
Community members and Henry Mayo personnel were in attendance to commemorate the revolutionary facility.
Scott Zeller, creator and founder of EmPATH Consulting, said the concept of someone who needed psychiatric help, but having to wait a long time to get it, was not right.
“If you come into the (emergency room) and you’ve got an asthma attack and you’re short of breath (saying), ‘Please help.’ They don’t say, ‘Oh, go sit in the back, (we will) find you an asthma hospital in a day or two.’ They intervene right away. You get better, and chances are in a few hours you go home. Turns out the same thing is true for psychiatric emergencies,” Zeller said.
Zeller added that treatment should start right away just like a heart attack or asthma attack would get.
He said he began his research on these issues about 20 years ago and wanted to focus on how medical professionals could help patients feel less stressed, less angry, less likely to become agitated and show them they are here to help.
“Psych has been historically an us-versus-them (problem). But the idea of EmPATH is that we’re all in this together, and we’ll get you through it. So, it’s even like the idea that the environment is a treatment in itself. That this is not a scary environment. It is not an aggressive environment. It doesn’t feel like a place where somebody’s going to go, ‘Sit down and shut up, or I’m going to call security,’” Zeller said.
As Zeller described how calming the space is — from the printed nature walls to the makeshift skylight ceiling – he was smiling from ear to ear.
Vicki White, chief clinical officer at Henry Mayo, said that coming to the facility and getting the treatment they need can lead to patients feeling like themselves faster.
“Instead of having a long hospital stay or getting more escalated or agitated in the emergency department, which is just the wrong place that there needs to be. And think about families who struggle in how to help their loved ones, to know that there’s a resource in the community,” White said.
White said she felt grateful that Henry Mayo was investing in this facility to have long-term benefits for patients.
White added that seeing how many people came to support the opening meant the hospital was getting the point across.
“But when you see people really getting around this, for whatever the reason might be, you say, ‘We are going to be successful. We’re going to make a difference,’ and that’s what matters,” White said.
Allison Aronsky, director of behavioral health at Henry Mayo, said she had started her new position in July and was brought on to help finalize the unit.
She said she worked closely with risk management, construction, hospital executives, and senior leadership at the hospital to make sure the environment was appropriate.
“It feels invigorating. I’m very, very excited about it. I think, for me, as a nurse leader, it’s crucial that we begin to see beyond the stigma of mental health, and we begin to see how we can provide differentiated care for psychiatric patients the way that we do for medical patients. And that’s what EmPATH is designed to do. Because it’s not a one-size-fits-all model in behavioral health,” Aronsky said.
After the ribbon cutting, community members got to explore the new facilities, and enjoy some food and each other’s company in the new space.
