Pardee Hospital Foundation receives grant to help mental health patients

From the press release from Pardee Memorial Hospital:

(Hendersonville, N.C.) Pardee Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce that it has received a grant to assist with the treatment of behavioral health and substance abuse patients who come to Pardee’s emergency department from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The project will improve the lives of residents of Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties by assisting with the implementation of a transitional care model of specialized, group and recreational therapies for behavioral health patients awaiting transfer to other facilities in North Carolina. With a growing mental health patient base, this program expands Pardee’s existing continuum of care for the more than 200 mental health patients per month. In addition to the $145,228 grant from the Trust, other funds will be provided by Pardee Hospital and Pardee Hospital Foundation.

“The ED Psych Transitional unit is a patient centered area that will facilitate beginning therapies by specialized social workers and recreational therapist to the mental health patient during the time they are awaiting placement. We anticipate patients will actually have a lower length of stay, with appropriate patients being discharged with a plan to include an outpatient appointment. This overall plan will assist Pardee, the primary provider of mental health services in Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties by saving admissions to inappropriate or higher cost services and opening some beds for other emergency patients in the main ED,” said Gayle Sams, Director of Emergency Services at Pardee Hospital.

Pardee’s emergency department is the second largest in the WNC region, serving over 30,000 patients per year and an additional 22,000 in our urgent care facility. The base of patients with substance abuse and mental health issues has steadily been growing over the past three years and is averaging over 150 per month. This new service will allow for a higher percentage of behavioral health patients to be served by Pardee’s therapy resources in a local setting and transferred to state facilities for only the most extreme/violent cases.

Pardee Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital founded in 1953 and is managed by UNC Health Care. It is the first and only hospital in North Carolina to be accredited with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001:2008) for quality health care standards. The hospital is licensed for 222 acute care beds and is the second largest employer in Henderson County. The hospital has several locations separate from the main campus, including a comprehensive physician practice network. For more information or to find a physician, call 1-866-790-WELL (9355) or visit www.pardeehospital.org.
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was established in 1947 and is now one of the largest private trusts in North Carolina. Its mission is to improve the quality of life and quality of health for the financially needy of North Carolina. The Health Care Division promotes wellness state-wide by investing in prevention and treatment. The Poor and Needy Division of the Trust responds to basic life needs and invests in solutions that improve the quality of life and health for financially needy residents of Forsyth County. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. serves as sole trustee.

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