Adding another crisis stabilization unit for those experiencing mental health crises was such an obvious choice that it sailed through Tuesday’s San Diego County supervisors meeting on the consent calendar.
The county’s behavioral health department has increasingly relied on these facilities — quiet locations with comfortable recliners where those picked up under suspicion they may be a danger to themselves or others — to keep patients out of busy emergency department. Patients can stay for up to 24 hours, taking time to relax while licensed professionals determine whether they need a longer period of treatment in a locked unit or if they can be released and continue therapy on an outpatient basis.
“Since the expansion of CSUs, the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital has seen nearly a 40 percent reduction in inpatient admissions, demonstrating the effectiveness of CSUs in diverting people from unnecessary inpatient care,” said a statement included in the board’s agenda package.
The newest unit, said to include “approximately six” recliners at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, will be dedicated to serving Medi-Cal enrollees.
Unlike other units in the county, Sharp Chula Vista’s plan is to build its crisis unit “adjacent” to the hospital’s busy emergency department.
Board member Terra Lawson-Remer took a moment to call out the project during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We do know that a CSU is a much better place for people in a crisis than just taking them to the emergency room,” Lawson-Remer said. “I think this is a great partnership with Sharp.”
Other county-sponsored crisis units are already operating in Vista and Oceanside in coastal North County, at Palomar Medical Center Escondido, at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, at the former Bayview Hospital in Chula Vista now operated as a behavioral health unit affiliated with Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, and at an emergency psychiatric screening unit run by the county. An additional unit on South Magnolia Street in El Cajon is under construction and is expected to open in 2025.
