Health center CEO hoping for a state resolution on MHIs

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Talks of closing the Mental Health Institute in Mt. Pleasant have not been lost on the Henry County Health Center Board of Trustees. During Tuesday?s monthly meeting, HCHC CEO Robb Gardner took a moment to address the current issues surrounding MHI in Mt. Pleasant and what the institute?s closing could mean for the local medical community.

?I do hope that the state government is able to find a resolution so that we don?t lose our local MHI. To lose another nine beds for severely mentally ill patients in our region is an unfortunate situation,? said Gardner.

Currently, the local MHI is not taking on new patients. In southeast Iowa as a whole, the closing of MHI would result in only eight openings available for those with severe mental illness to find proper care and treatment opportunities. Due to such a high demand for care facilities like MHI that provide services for the severely mentally ill, facilities in Iowa are almost always at maximum occupancy.

?Our number one transfer out of the ER is mental health patients,? Gardner continued. ?HCHC is working on a process to develop a crisis intervention team that will help part-time in our ER within the next 60 days. But, it is unfortunate that we don?t have more time to work on a process prior to the closure of the facility.?

Despite his lament for the current situation with MHI, Gardner did praise the ongoing work of State Senator Rich Taylor, Representative Heaton, HCHC employees and the local community in advocating for the continuation of the local MHI.

?There has been tremendous work done by the region in the last year and a half, but we are just not quite there yet as a region,? said Gardner. ?If we were given another two years, we would have much more robust capability to care for mentally ill individuals. Right now, we just don?t have a lot of providers and it takes a significant amount of time to recruit them.?

Gardner says he looks for some major decisions regarding MHI to be made by state officials by the end of April.

Besides talk of MHI, Andy Youngquist, director of rehabilitation services at HCHC, gave the board an update regarding the physical therapy clinic at the health center and had encouraging news regarding improvements to the clinic.

On top of recent renovations to the heated therapeutic pool, the rehabilitation clinic has also had a new machine added to enhance the range of services provided to patients. Youngquist also reviewed some of the training his staff has been receiving.

?Although we are locked in as far as how much we can expand the size of our clinic, I am always looking at ways that we can expand the services we offer our patients,? Youngquist said. ?With that in mind, he have added a simulator machine that simulates a whole range of jobs and activities that we weren?t able to do on our own before, and we can use this machine in a very compact space.?

With the new range of services that this new machine is providing, the clinic has also started looking into ways to better educate clients on their diagnosis and treatment options as well we using more understandable dialogue with patients to ensure that patients? needs are being met and that they understand their treatment plan and prognosis.

Other points of interest discussed during Tuesday?s meeting included an approval of the county tax budget for HCHC as well an official swearing in of new board member Joel Prottsman.

The next HCHC Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 17 at noon inside the HCHC Board Room.