Southeastern Regional Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services was awarded the money by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Southeastern serves as the local management entity for public behavioral healthcare in Scotland County. The grant will be used to fund a primary care / behavioral healthcare project in the four counties, including Scotland, that are served by the agency.
The award should make behavioral health care more accessible to those who might not otherwise receive treatment, according to Kathy Baker, SRMH director of planning and collaboration and author of the grant.
"To implement the project, Southeastern Regional Mental Health will identify a pediatric primary care practice, and an adult primary care practice, where we will place a child psychiatrist and an adult psychiatrist in each to see patients who are also determined to be in need of psychiatric care," she said. "During a pilot program, we discovered that when a doctor referred a patient to a mental health facility he or she would often not follow up on the visit, due to the fact that the appointment was at another location and at a later date."
Baker said by placing a psychiatrist in-house, the person in need of behavioral health care can see a mental health professional sooner.
Psychiatrists will keep office hours at certain clinics a few times per month, and if a professional is not on location when an emergency arises a high tech telemedicine system can still bring patient and psychiatrist together in a long distance, on screen connection.
"The telemedicine setup is state of the art technology," Baker said. "It is one way of maximizing our resources to bring mental health resources where they are most needed."
One of the exciting aspects of the project is that it will not only allow a greater access of mental health services for patients not previously connected with behavioral healthcare, but will also aid behavioral care recipients by bringing physical care to them.
"Many behavioral care patients lack medical care, which is often a necessary component in their overall health," Baker said. "We're trying to take a holistic approach, in order to better care for all aspects of the patient's needs."
Baker hopes that the two year grant will give way to a permanent arrangement in the county after funds have been utilized.
"Our pilot program in Robeson County resulted in a 33 bed impatient facility for adults," Baker said. "We hope to see the same types of results elsewhere. One of our endeavors is to insure that consumers have access to psychiatric care in our region."
Scotland County Commissioner Betty Blue Gholston serves on the Southeastern Regional Mental Health board.
"I am very excited that Scotland County will be receiving additional services connected with primary care doctors," Gholston said. "This increases county residents' access to behavioral health care while visiting their physicians."
The project is currently in the planning process and is projected to be in operation by early 2010.
For information contact Baker at 910-272-1208.
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