People experiencing mental or behavioral health issues now have an alternate to the Emergency Room at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington. Here’s an announcement issued by Providence about the facility.
The new unit is on the Providence Campus.
As part of its efforts to introduce more effective models of care and lead the way in addressing the behavioral health crisis in Snohomish County, Providence Medical Group has launched a Behavioral Health Urgent Care that is on the same campus as the Providence Regional Medical Center emergency department. This unique co-location of facilities allows for patients with an urgent behavioral health condition – who traditionally may have gone to the emergency department – to instead be seen in a more appropriate outpatient clinic setting.
Staffed with a multidisciplinary team of behavioral health experts – including psychiatric ARNPs, a social worker, a substance use disorder professional and peer counselor – the clinic offers psychiatric assessment and consultation, medication if needed and bridging to community partnerships and services.
“It is rare to have a behavioral health urgent care located on the same campus as an emergency department,” says Laura Knapp, Director of Behavioral Health at Providence. “We believe this is a model that will better serve behavioral health patients, and that more and more facilities will start to adopt a similar model.”
Providence Regional Medical Center’s emergency department is one of the busiest in the state, with more than 87,000 visits last year. Emergency departments are one of the most expensive places for patients to receive care, so if someone with a behavioral health emergency can instead go to the Behavioral Health Urgent Care, they can be more appropriately treated while also reducing their out-of-pocket cost.
Nationally, an estimated one in three individuals has suffered from a mental health or substance abuse condition within the last 12 months. In Snohomish County, the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community’s Health & Wellbeing Monitor found that people rate their mental health nearly 3% lower than they did just two years ago.
The goal of the clinic is to address immediate behavioral health needs and help connect patients to providers in the community for ongoing care.
“Seeking behavioral health should be as seamless as seeking medical care,” says Knapp. “As part of our mission, Providence is committed to increasing access to behavioral health care while eliminating the stigma surrounding this disease.”
The clinic is located at 1330 Rockefeller Ave., Ste. 140, Everett. It accepts walk-in behavioral health patients, ages 18 and over, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment is necessary.
December 16, 2019
Everett