CLEVELAND, Ohio — Hospitals across the nation and here in Cleveland are seeing an influx of patients with mental illness, including children, in emergency rooms.
Dr. Purva Grover, medical director of Cleveland Clinic's Pediatric Emergency Department, told News 5 the hospital system has seen a 300% increase in patients over the last two years in emergency rooms struggling with mental illness.
"What we do... at the emergency department is to find them a safe space,” Grover said.
Sometimes that safe space is providing resources, while other times, they need to be checked in the hospital and given a bed at the clinic's Patient Psychiatric Unit, which has been overflowing.
“It is almost always at capacity. We are boarding, you know, these patients on our medical floors,” Grover said.
Grover adds it's not just adult patients; lately, they have seen a lot of kids.
“We are seeing children as young as eight, nine, 10, all the way up to, of course, to 21,” Grover said.
This is a stark difference from years past when the hospital usually only saw teens starting around age 14. Grover believes the cause for the increase is the pandemic; which has put stress on families and children.
Katie Jenkins, the director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Greater Cleveland (NAMI), agrees.
“We're seeing a lot of children that aren't or haven't developed appropriate coping skills, who have struggled with developing socialization skills,” said Jenkins.
Jenkins believes those trends are a combo effect of the pandemic, social media and current events.
“We've seen the Boston Marathon bombings. We've seen an innumerable amount of school shootings, the pandemic, all these things that have been life-changing events,” said Jenkins.
And to add, the lack of beds in the area. Within the region, there are fewer than four facilities that take children under the age of 18. Just as new ones are opening up, others are closing.
“St. Vincent’s had to close their inpatient units in University Heights. Richmond closed their psychiatric units, and so it's been hard,” said Jenkins.
She and Grover say the first step to lowering the increase is to overcome the stigmas attached to mental illness.
“We are talking about it, we are legitimizing it, and we are destigmatizing it,” said Grover.
Resources are available to help. CLICK HERE for more information from NAMI.
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