Memorialhermann plans mental health clinic for area

Memorial Hermann plans to open a mental health crisis clinic to serve the Spring Branch area as one of four facilities planned in the Houston area to respond to the shortage of resources readily available to individuals suffering from chronic mental illness.

The first of the clinics opened recently in Humble on the campus of Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital, 18951 Memorial North. The one in Spring Branch would open in the fall as the second, the third will be placed on the west side of Katy and the fourth will be nearPasadena.

The communities were chosen based on14 years of research regarding which areas mostneeded the clinics, said Theresa Fawvor, Memorial Hermann senior director of behavioral health services.

Memorial Hermann has not determined the loca- tions of the three planned clinics.

The clinics were made possible by the state’s Medicaid 1115 Waiver, which provides funding to cover uninsured patients, Fawvor said.

Many with health care problems have gone years without treatment because they were uninsured, she said.

“In Texas historically, we’ve not done a very good job of funding mental health,” she said. “We rank 49th nationally.”

Many patients rely on emergency rooms for treatment.

“Unfortunately, that’s not an effective option,” she said. “They’re not getting the psychiatric care they need.”

Fawvor said that patients who could not get help in the emergency room or other facilities often endup in carcerated.

She said that diminished funding led to the closing of a freestanding mental health hospital in Houston in 1999.

“Just because you close your doors, doesn’t mean that psychiatric needs go away,” Fawvor said.

The last legislative session changed the equation, she said.

“Our mental health care services are normally cut and we walk away with diminished funding,” she said, “This session, we saw an increase.”

Fawvor believes that politicians have been motivated to address the issue of mental health after incidents such as recent shootings that have been linked to untreated mental illnesses.

“These diseases, when left untreated, lead to death,” Fawvor said. “It’s not only about the person who struggles with it, but also all the others around that individual.”

When the Medicaid 1115 Waiver came up, the Memorial HermannPsychiat-

ric Response Team brainstorming ideas for ways to expand services and settled on creating a series of clinics in communities surrounding the city.

“We went through our data and identified ZIP codes where the most chronic issues were,” Fawvor said.

“All families, regardless of where they live, are impacted by mental illness. It cuts across socioeconomic lines and cultural boundaries.”

The team identified property for its first clinic in September and after months of renovations, the facility opened April 14.

When all four clinics are open and fully staffed, Memorial Hermann plans to operate around-the-clock.

This walk-in clinic provides rapid access to initial psychiatric treatment and outpatient multidisciplinary services for patients.

“This waiver is giving us the opportunity to be a part of changing the landscape of care for these individuals,” she said.

“We’re energized by the fact that they will finally get the care they need. Regardless of their ability to pay, wewant to serve them.”

Manish Pandya, psychiatric response team director, was part of the leadership team that developed the program.

“In 2013, the Memorial Hermann Psychiat- ric Response Team performed more than 6,200 evaluations and found increasingly complicated co-occurring medical and psychiatric disorders,” he said.

“There were few available community-based treatment options for these patients.”

Pandya said the clinics will establish a model for recovery.

“This clinic and the other three that will follow are going to provide an op- portunity for individuals living in the communities that Memorial Hermann serves an access point to get care at a more appropriate level,” he said. “They can get the right care and have a more sustainable recovery.”

Faw vor said that opening the first clinic was a learning experience and that the team will be apply the lessons learned to the next three facilities.

The third clinic is slated to be completed in June 2015, and the fourth should open the following October.

“We’re focused on getting these services out to the community as quickly as possible,” Faw vor said. “There are a lot of people who need our services, and we’re eager to meet their needs.”