WATERTOWN, N.Y. — The emergency department (ED) at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown is undergoing a construction project to expand and enhance the care of psychiatric patients within the secure behavioral health unit (BHU). The hospital says it needs the expansion as the average daily census of patients has been “consistently exceeding” physical space. The […]
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — The emergency department (ED) at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown is undergoing a construction project to expand and enhance the care of psychiatric patients within the secure behavioral health unit (BHU).
The hospital says it needs the expansion as the average daily census of patients has been “consistently exceeding” physical space.
The project is set to cost $2.5 million and construction has begun, per its Sept. 22 announcement. The hospital expects crews to finish the project by the summer of 2024.
Samaritan leaders contacted the New York State Department of Health (DOH) about the unit’s physical constraints and then decided to seek emergency approval on a certificate of need that identified the space the hospital needs. The state DOH “quickly approved it,” Samaritan Medical Center said.
The construction effort will expand the area to a 12-bed secure unit to “meet the needs of the community” and the ED will have 29 medical beds.
To make room, the current coffee shop in the main lobby will move to a different space in the lobby. The hospital also plans to move physician office space and claim hallway space in the lobby area. The process will happen in a phased approach to limit the impact to current operations.
Explaining the need
The average daily census of psychiatric patients in the past 12 months has grown to about eight patients, with a high of over 20 patients at one time. The number “collectively exceeds” the secure unit and overflow capacity, which forces these patients into medical beds within the emergency department.
It results in two immediate impacts that include fewer beds to treat medical patients and the need for more staff members to watch psychiatric patients in these medical rooms with “inherent equipment and safety risks” in a traditional medical room, the hospital said.
Besides the increase in patient census, the patients, especially children, are waiting longer in the ED when they need hospitalization. The current physical space to help safely stabilize these patients is “not adequate” within the emergency department’s current behavioral health unit (BHU).
The increased number of adults and children in a “mental health crisis” can be attributed to many factors, but there is not one particular trend. The pandemic is certainly a newer factor with more stress, anxiety, isolation and breaks in outpatient care, Samaritan said.
Fundraising
The BHU expansion project’s cost of $2.5 million is not in the hospital’s budget for 2023 but has been “deemed necessary as a matter of patient safety concerns and to mitigate extra staffing needs.”
Samaritan Medical Center has identified “several” revenue sources, and it continues to look for grant dollars to help offset the construction cost, the organization said.
The Samaritan Foundation; Children’s Miracle Network of Northern New York; and Jefferson County have all committed funds totaling about $793,000.
The Samarian Foundation committed half of the net proceeds from its recent Thousand Islands Golf Tournament in June to the project for a total of just over $60,000. In addition, the foundation is going to dedicate proceeds from an event later this year, Festival of Trees, to the project.
The Children’s Miracle Network of Northern New York and its allocations committee designated $300,000 to the project because there is a direct pediatric-care need to this expansion.
On April 4, the Jefferson County Board of Legislators approved a request from Jefferson County Community Services to provide $430,000 to Samaritan Medical Center for this expansion.
The funds have been made available as a result of the New York State Attorney General’s successful litigation with several pharmaceutical companies. The $430,000 is designated to assist with the physical expansion of the behavioral health unit, which has had “dramatic” increases in opiate-related visits, Samaritan said.
The hospital will also use the funding to begin providing “lifesaving, medication-assisted” therapies to those who need medical assistance to begin their journey to recovery.