Baystate Health’s addition of psychiatric beds helps fill void (Editorial)
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
After Providence Behavioral Health closed its 74 inpatient psychiatric beds in Holyoke, it took with it 12 beds offered to children and teens. Imagine being told that your son or daughter, possibly suicidal, will be sent two hours away to Salem or, hopefully, relatively closer, Manchester, Connecticut.
And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shortage of beds, those with serious mental health issues in need of hospitalization that can’t travel are facing long wait times which can add up to days – even weeks.
“There are not enough inpatient psychiatry hospital beds in the region, especially with the closing of services at Providence,” said Dr. Barry D. Sarvet, chair of Baystate Health’s department of psychiatry. “But even before it was closing, we did not have enough beds.”