Sacred Heart healthcare workers holding rally for accountability Sept. 5 in Spokane
Providence is closing inpatient psychiatric unit for adolescents Sept. 7. Providence’s closure of the unit leaves Eastern Washington with little care and didn’t need to happen, nurses and techs/service and maintenance workers say.
August 28, 2024 • 1 minute, 52 seconds to read
Seattle, Aug. 28 – Providence Health & Services, a nonprofit Catholic health care system with facilities across seven states, is closing the inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane September 7.
Closing the 22-bed Sacred Heart Psychiatric Unit for Children and Adolescents will leave Eastern Washington without the high-level inpatient care for this vulnerable population.
Providence Sacred Heart nurses and techs/service and maintenance workers are holding a Rally for Accountability Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. in Cowley Park to bring awareness to the closure.
Speakers to include:
- Dr. Coralyn J. Alexander, Psychiatrist
- Craig Kisler, Mental Health Professional
- Michael Cathcart, Spokane City Council member. District 1
- Jim Tieken, Spokane Labor Council President
- David Keepnews, WSNA executive director
- Justin Gill, WSNA President
The nurses are represented by the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), and the techs/service and maintenance workers are represented by UFCW 3000.
“The closure of this unit will have huge consequences for families,” said Jaclyn Smedley, a WSNA nurse representative. “This means there are no longer any dedicated acute care hospital inpatient beds specializing in care for adolescents experiencing a mental health crisis. Kids may need to be taken out of their communities and driven to Tacoma or Seattle to receive treatment.”
Smedley said the level of acute services provided at the unit are currently not being provided anywhere else in Eastern Washington.
Sacred Heart’s psychiatric unit included an acute area for patients dealing with high risk for harm to themselves and others, and it provided mental health counselors on the floor 24/7 in addition to nursing staff. Inpatient care included patients who had neurocognitive disorders, chronic medical conditions, such as Type 1 diabetes, and those with severe behavioral issues coupled with comorbidities. The unit also provided additional counseling services, such as family therapy.
Providence has not currently provided reasonable alternative options for these kids, other than to send them across the state or to the only additional location here in Spokane — Inland Northwest Behavioral Health.
Providence entered into a joint venture with Universal Health Services, a for-profit chain, to open Inland Behavioral Health, in which Providence holds a 20% stake.
At this time, however, Inland Northwest Behavioral Health doesn't provide care to children 12 years of age and younger or with more complicated diagnoses or acute-care needs.
Moving forward, kids with mental health needs are expected to be admitted to the pediatric emergency department and placed on other units and floors within the hospital. But Providence has not provided additional staff such as counselors, nurses, or psych triage to manage the change, except to offer a mobile support team which will consist of management personnel managing the coordination of care of these patients stationed throughout the units. Bedside nurses, counselors, or triage staff will not be part of this team.
The closure did not need to happen, say nurses.
Instead of accepting grant money in the millions to improve the unit, Providence declined the money because it did not meet the requirement of providing care for at least the next 10 years as required by the grant, nurses said.