June 14, 2021
Pine Rest Vice President and COO, Bob Nykamp, was recently interviewed by WXYZ Detroit for a story about Michigan’s shortage of psychiatric beds which is affecting pediatric patients especially hard.
The state is currently short more than 100 beds needed to treat children experiencing a psychiatric crisis.
“It’s just unconscionable,” says Nykamp. “The state, probably, minimally, should be looking at 50 plus more beds.”
Pine Rest is one of the few organizations in the state that will have a bed available when other hospitals are not able to accommodate a patient. But with demand for child and adolescent psychiatric services steadily increasing over the years, the need for additional beds is stronger than ever.
At the request of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Pine Rest opened 40 emergency beds during the COVID-19 pandemic to treat patients in need of psychiatric care who tested positive for the virus. Pine Rest is currently in the process of requesting approval from the state to make the beds a permanent addition to its hospital post-pandemic.
WXYZ Segment: Kids “stack up” in Michigan ERs (6/14/2021)
ADDITIONAL STORIES
- ‘Comes down to funding priorities’: Kids stuck in Michigan EDs awaiting mental health care, Becker’s Hospital Review (June 15, 2021)
- Northern Michigan needs access to more mental health care, Up North Live (May 17, 2021)
