Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | April 13, 2020 | wbjournal.com e mental side of the pandemic BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor e coronavirus outbreak is also causing a behavioral health crisis B ehavioral health providers were already dealing with a crisis before the coronavirus outbreak hit, with sky-high opioid use and fast-rising suicide rates. e pandemic has complicated things for clinicians in their patients in two ma- jor ways: anxiety of getting the virus and depression from being stuck oen alone indoors has increased risks for patients, while efforts to keep people generally away from one another has made group therapy sessions almost impractical. Providers spent weeks as the pandem- ic began hitting hard in March scram- bling to figure out how to keep inpatient areas safe and move therapy sessions from in-person to online. "It's remarkable the level of anxiety people are under," said Catherine Col- lins, the regional business development liaison at Spectrum Health Systems in Worcester, who has been in addiction recovery for more than 20 years. "It's ex- actly what could lead people to relapse." A March poll by the American Psy- chiatric Association backs that up. More than one third of Americans said the outbreak was having a serious affect on their mental health, and almost one in five said it was causing them to lose sleep. In 8% of cases, the pandemic was causing them to drink or use drugs more. "e stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic can and is having an effect on people's physical and mental health," Dr. Bruce Schwartz, the president of the association, said in a statement accom- panying the poll results. Making quick adjustments For agencies in Central Massachu- setts, the coronavirus pandemic hitting the state in a severe way starting in mid-March with government mandates for people to distance themselves from others meant clinicians had to quickly figure out how best to main services remotely. Reliant Medical Group in Worcester converted its entire behavioral health department to be able to conduct video appointments with clients in 48 hours, including the time it took to train staff. "at was a massive team li," said Sam Nordberg, Reliant's chief of behav- ioral health. At facilities with inpatient units, in- cluding AdCare and Spectrum, balanc- ing social distancing requirements took more work. AdCare's 114-bed inpatient center in Worcester, for example, is still running largely as it would normally be except for adjustments to screen new patients more carefully. Daily group therapy sessions still take place, except in groups of three instead of two to give patients more space to spread out. A waiting room has only enough chairs so those waiting for appointments won't have to be too close to one another. "What we're telling patients is, if you need to be here, we'll take you," said David Hillis, AdCare's vice president of outpa- tient operations. Spectrum, which has inpatient centers in Westborough and Weymouth, is taking patients' temperatures during the admissions process and asking for risk factors as a way to determine if someone might have COVID-19. In Westborough, it has added a trailer outside its entrance to conduct screening away from others. "We started screening right away, as soon as this came anywhere near Massa- chusetts," said Lisa Blanchard, Spectrum's vice president of clinical services. Spectrum has changed how it allows patients to access medication. It's typical- ly required to be administered on-site in short doses, but some patients are being allowed to take home medication for up Sam Nordberg, Reliant Medical Group Catherine Collins, Spectrum Health Systems PHOTOS/GRANT WELKER

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