SOUTHEAST ADDS ADULT PSYCHIATRIC UNIT

An adult inpatient psychiatric unit, the first to operate in Cape Girardeau since 1987, will open in late November at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Administrator James W. Wente.

The 14-bed acute unit will serve patients who are in a psychiatric crisis.

The unit will be located on the fifth floor of the hospital's east wing. A $100,000 renovation, mostly to meet safety requirements of the Missouri Department of Health, is beginning this week.

Southeast Missouri Hospital currently operates a Stress Unit for patients requiring short-term hospitalization due to stress-related illnesses.

"We recently determined...that a need exists for a higher level of care for patients suffering from more serious mental illness," Wente said in a statement issued by the hospital.

The unit, to be headed by Dr. David Taylor, will include a licensed clinical psychologist, a psychiatric social worker, a psychiatric nurse, a recreational therapist and a psychiatric technician.

The hospital anticipates an occupancy rate of 11 to 12 patients per day, with a length of stay as long as 30 days.

The unit will not treat patients who have an alcohol or other chemical dependency.

St. Francis Medical Center previously operated an inpatient mental health unit in the city until closing it in June 1987, citing low occupancy. An average of 13 of the 19 beds were being filled at the time of the closing.

Aside from the Stress Unit, patients needing psychiatric inpatient care then had to choose between the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington, or facilities in Anna, Poplar Bluff or Crystal City.

A population base of 100,000 people typically can support 40 psychiatric beds, according to hospital statistics. The hospital's primary service area has a population of 190,000.

But Mati Stone, clinical director of the Community Counseling Center, said that great need for psychiatric hospitalization has been reduced in the past five years because of a new emphasis on providing home-based services.

Stone applauded the hospital's decision to expand its services for psychiatric patients. "There is a need," she said.

The psychiatric unit will qualify for an exemption to the formula which normally reimburses the hospital 82 cents for every $1 in care given a Medicare patient. The unit will receive almost 100 percent reimbursement for Medicare patients.

The unit will treat any patient admitted by the hospital's medical staff, however.