Many patients facing both physical illness and behavioral issues often go untreated.
Their physical ailments can disqualify them from being admitted to a behavioral care facility, according to UNM psychiatry associate professor Davin Quinn, while their behavioral complications can disqualify them from physical treatment facilities.
The all-new Sandia Ridge Mental Health and Recovery Unit works to alleviate these obstacles, through its unique-to-New-Mexico, high-intensity medical and behavioral care.
Quinn is also division chief of Behavioral Health Consultation and Integration and the medical director at Sandia Ridge Psychiatric Consultation Service.
Quinn said the program allows patients to stay at the skilled nursing facility for “up to 90 days” after being referred by hospitals, psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation centers and the like.
Held at Sandia Ridge Center, the unit opened in January, and 11 patients were admitted within the first month, he said.
While participating in the program, patients will receive psychiatric evaluation, medication adjustments if needed, and a psychosocial rehabilitation program run by social workers and behavioral specialists, he said, adding that they will also receive a medical evaluation and physical therapy.
Jeremy Miller, who works under Quinn as a fourth-year psychiatry resident at Sandia Crest Ridge, said the program has been an “education in systems integration.”
Miller is referring to the space the unit provides for individuals with different hierarchies, patient populations and electronic medical records so as to collaborate and communicate with each other, which helps “provide the best possible patient care.”
Quinn said the key to the program’s effectiveness lies in its capability to care for those with medical and physical disabilities, while also caring for those experiencing emotional and behavioral issues.
“This was not possible at this level before ― a patient could either have their physical health treated, or their mental health, but it was very difficult to have both treated together,” he said.
Miller said he has gained more than just the ability to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of healthcare systems outside of the University.
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“It has been important for me to see the continuity of care,” he said. “We discharge patients from the UNM hospital to this facility, and I get to help bridge them through rehabilitation and to their outpatient appointment with their doctors. That bridge was a piece I never got to see in my first three years of psychiatry training. I was either the doctor taking care of them in the hospital or the doctor taking care of them in the outpatient clinic.”
Quinn said he hopes the program will encourage society to view emotional and behavioral issues the same as medical conditions, such as diabetes or heart failure.
“This means that insurance coverage for these issues would be the same, access to treatment programs would be the same, and our respect and compassion for these issues would be the same,” he said.
Elizabeth Sanchez is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.
