Services for the mentally ill take another hit

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

A 12-bed wing for mentally ill senior citizens at Valley Hospital Medical Center shut down last weekend, leaving the region with only one other such service.

Experts said the move will only worsen the mental health state of emergency that Clark County Manager Thom Reilly declared July 9, an emergency caused in part by mentally ill patients waiting in emergency rooms for psychiatric care.

"(This) basically will be impacting the public ... (and) contribute to emergency room crowding," said Laurie Moore, director of the senior mental health outreach program for Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, a state agency.

Jonna Triggs, director of the agency, oversees the state's 140 beds, 28 of which were added only weeks ago. Those have been full for months, causing psychiatric patients in emergency rooms to wait days at a time for a bed.

The closing of Valley's wing, she said, "makes a bad situation worse."

The wing's last two patients were "either discharged or transferred" Sunday and the wing was closed to make room for a planned expansion of ob/gyn services, said Gretchen Papez, marketing director for the hospital at 620 Shadow Lane.

The unit stopped accepting patients Aug. 23. Seniors 55 and over with mental health problems now only have North Vista Hospital to turn to for psychiatric help among private hospitals in the valley. That hospital is located at 1409 E. Lake Mead Blvd., near Eastern Avenue.

Dr. Kevin Bernstein, medical director of the 18-bed psychiatric unit for seniors at North Vista Hospital -- formerly Lake Mead Hospital -- was bracing for an increase in demand Tuesday. He said the unit had three patients waiting for a bed at the moment.

"Some will end up in emergency rooms ... (and) the burden is just going to increase," he said.

Bernstein said patients come to his psychiatric unit from the community at large, nursing homes or so-called assisted living facilities.

Moore said about 20 percent of senior citizens may suffer from clinical depression. "Of those, some are suicidal," she said.

Elise Addario, director of the North Vista unit, said the numbers may be even higher for mental illness among seniors.

Nevada had the fastest-growing population of people 65 and over between 1990 and 2000, according to the Census Bureau, with a 72 percent increase during that period. The senior population is now estimated at 257,000.

"This is a retirement community and (the lack of care) will be a growing problem," Addario said.

Bernstein said seniors need psychiatric care in general hospitals because, unlike the state's psychiatric hospital, physicians of other specialties are available to help with other medical problems.

"It's vital to be in a hospital setting for geriatric patients because there's increased medical needs as well," he said.