Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | July 23, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 11 New facilities, more providers needed Central Massachusetts providers have been responding to a rising need, with more on the way. In Worcester, UMass Memorial Health Care is building a 120-bed psychiatric hospital slated to open early next year. Saint Vincent Hospital opened an eight-patient wing of its emergency department committed exclusively for behavioral health on what was a loading dock and offices. e hospital is planning to expand its inpatient mental health wing from 13 beds to 20. In Southbridge, Harrington Health- Care opened Harrington Child and Family Services Center in February, purposely avoiding a phrase like "men- tal health" in its name for the stigma against getting professional help. It added staff to a similar center in Dudley. Harrington has more than doubled the size of its behavioral health staff in the past two years, Adams said, growing from just one outpatient behavioral health site to nine. Psychiatry now makes up the largest department at Har- rington Hospital in Southbridge. "It's staggering," Adams said. "No matter how much staff we add or pro- grams we add, it's not enough." MetroWest Medical Center has the same issue, with both inpatient and outpatient services constantly at capac- ity, Looser said. MetroWest has added staff but is still constrained by the cost of adding or expanding units, or of finding enough specialists to staff them, Looser said. MetroWest Medical Center - Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick is planning an expansion from 12 beds to 20. In the meantime, patients might have to wait weeks for placement. Heywood Medical Group opened a day program for those battling both substance abuse and mental illness at the Quabbin Retreat in Petersham last June. "is is some- thing that we've seen coming down the road for a long time," Nora Salo- vardos, Heywood's director of behavioral health, said of rising mental health needs. Heywood formed the Montachusett Suicide Prevention Task Force six years ago after seeing cases of suicide more and more often – including in schools. The task force has grown to include 22 area communities, with programs for men, youths, survivors of those who've died of suicide, and military families. Barbara Nealon, who co-chairs the task force with Salovardos, said the task force has shown results at least locally, where suicides are down sharply in Gardner, where Heywood is based. Other towns have wanted to add in more services, too, but the staff has bumped up against how much it can handle, Nealon said. "ere's only so much we can physically do as a group," she said. "That's pretty consistent with what we've seen organizationally." Kate Adams, Director of Mental Health, Harrington HealthCare System in Southbridge Nora Salovardos, Heywood director of mental health Barbara Nealon, Montachusett Suicide Prevention Task Force Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) Suicide rates Massachusetts has the third lowest suicide rate in the nation, but the rate of suicides in Massachusetts rose by 35 percent from 1999 to 2016. Here is how Massachusetts compares to the national average in age-adjusted annual rate per 100,000 people: 0 5 10 15 20 1999- 2001 2002- 2004 2005- 2007 2008- 2010 2011- 2013 2014- 2016 Age-adjusted annual rate per 100,000 people 15.4 10 Massachusetts United States Percent change from 1999 to 2016: 25% 35% W

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