UNC Health Care wants in-patient mental health unit in Raleigh

Raleigh, N.C. — UNC Health Care is seeking approval from state regulators to open a 16-bed inpatient mental-health wing in Raleigh that would be operated as a psychiatric unit of UNC Hospitals.

The new unit, which would include crisis and assessment services and medical detox treatment, would complement existing care provided at the WakeBrook Recovery Center, a health care facility managed by Wake County, on Sunnybrook Road.

"Our private providers are important, and they're still going to be providing services, but UNC is going to come in and really help take the pressure off the system by providing services to, really, the most mentally ill people," said Ann Akland, with the Wake County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

UNC, under an agreement with the Wake County Board of Commissioners, is expected to assume management of WakeBrook in early 2013.

Administrators say they aim to have the unit operating by next summer and that their ultimate goal is to have 28 psychiatric beds – a $40 million investment.

Hospital rooms are often crowded with patients with mental illness. State-run psychiatric hospital Central Regional Hospital in Butner usually as a waiting list.

Mental health advocates say that some end up in prison without effective treatment.

"It ends up being the place of last resort for many people with mental illness," said Dr. Jack Naftel, vice chairman of the UNC Department of Psychiatry. "In Wake County, there are more psychiatric beds in Central Prison than there are in the private sector. (That) says mental illness is a pervasive problem, and it affects society in a lot of different ways."

Statewide, mental health reform has been ongoing for more than a decade. The latest attempt is two years in the making.

"The gaps we've seen in the mental health system in the past have been very significant," Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, said. "We believe we are on track to having a far better managed system in North Carolina."

9 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 9 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Storchheim: My impression is that you do not have a full grasp of the situation. Those who have a severe and persistent mental illness whose symptoms are so severe that they require hospitalization are not able to work as their symptoms often render them incapable of functioning in this way. It is not that they do not want to work. As they cannot work they do not have health insurance provided by an employer and cannot afford to either purchase their own or pay the cost of medical treatment. To provide them the medical care they need is not to coddle them. It is humane. If you want to view this from a more selfish vantage point: "why must the poor be considered," consider it an investment - if they receive treatment, alleviation of symptoms, they may just be able to work again and be able to contribute to society financially and otherwise. Left untreated they will never move beyond the ranks of the poor.

dksmith
December 7, 2012 9:50 a.m.

" Another major issue besides society frowning upon those that need these services is the discriminatory actions of insurance companies, including medicare and medicaid, in regard to what they will pay for these HEALTH care services." toto

It's not yet illegal to pay for your own services EXCLUSIVE of insurance. Then the insurance companies can't restrict you.

And please - just don't even start with ThePoor. Why in the world must ThePoor be considered, coddled, and paid for before any plan is formulated? I wasn't put on earth solely to take care of ThePoor!

storchheim
December 6, 2012 7:48 p.m.

Toto, you are right. It is easier to obtain a health insurance policy if you have high blood pressure, smoke, diabetic, etc. If you've had a episode of anything that can be labeled as mental health, they will find ways to deny you. It's sad.

nc creature
December 6, 2012 7:32 p.m.

hedgy_one.. it's called "a wink and a nod". People act like they're against something while in the backrooms they push to have it done. It's done to deflect blame and deny guilt.

The State of North Carolina is run in the background by individuals like you. You donate to politicians and put them in office, and in exchange, they do your bidding and get kickbacks under the table.

I'll grant that you may insulated from the inner workings of the process, and you may be naive of how politicians and business work together to scratch each others back.

But there's no way on Earth that that hospital would have ever been closed if some very rich, powerful and politically connected people had not pushed to have it happen so that the area would be suitable for extensive development.

The PUBLIC plans may have not started before the closing started, but the earlier PRIVATE plans are the ones that started the closing process.

That's how things work in this world. Enjoy your plausible deniability

TVs_Deceit
December 6, 2012 5:51 p.m.

"As a member of the board of Friends of Dorothea Dix Park I will tell you that the plans for turning the Dix land into a park did not begin until AFTER the STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA began the closing of the hospital facilities on the property."

Which means you started about 30 years ago correct? Don't know how long you have been on your committee, but there have been threats going way back to close Dorothea Dix down. I know someone that use to work there "back in the day" and it was a monthly threat that they were going to be closing it down.

I agree, the only reason there is a lack of space now is because the state dropped the ball many, many years ago and let the hospital get in the shape that it is in now. It irks me that all of a sudden Rex and the like and come up with the money to try to do something about this when we already HAD a solution which the state just let slip off into the abyss and the patients Dix helped along with it.