Urgent care clinic looks back on one year of community mental health service
Apr. 3—Family Guidance Center's Behavioral Health Urgent Care center has been open to patients for a year now, and employees are reflecting on the clinic's successes.
The Behavioral Health Urgent Care center opened its doors April 3, 2023, and has served more than 1,300 patients since then. On average, they see 110 patients a month, more than they anticipated when the facility initially opened.
"We started off with a bang," said Ashley Kautz, the director of the urgent care center. "We thought the first year was going to be kind of slow, but it started off fast and ended fast because we had a lot more people coming in than we expected, but we managed it well through the challenges and success."
A key purpose of opening the facility was to offer mental health assistance to both children and adults outside of regular business hours.
At the urgent care center, a support specialist, nurses and a pair of physicians are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, and a crisis team is available 24/7.
"A lot of urgent care centers are 24 hours, and we're 12, but we've noticed just being able to stay open for those additional hours has been impactful for the community," Kautz said. "A lot of people had no idea where to turn when they needed that immediate care and that is our sole purpose to treat people in need without requiring an appointment to be set up."
Operating the urgent facility has come with challenges as well.
Mental health-related emergency visits have been a common trend among the youth, with nearly 35% of the referrals the facility receives being for kids, and finding ways to properly treat them hasn't been simple.
"There were obstacles we saw this year as well," Kautz said. "We had so many questions from, 'How do we get this amount of people in? How do we service them in a good amount of time, while also being able to provide the appropriate services that we need to?' But we found a way and in doing so, it also relieved stress emergency rooms were facing."
On average, an estimate of more than $1 million in hospital costs has been saved from residents not having to go to the emergency room and going to the urgent care facility instead, Kautz added.
Mental health struggles are not an overnight fix, but experts say being able to have more resources for the community is a starting point to solving issues, and they will continue to make an effort to service individuals of all income levels.
"If you don't have primary care or you don't have behavioral health services, we're working with you to get all those things set up," Kautz said. "If you don't have Medicaid, we can save up with Medicaid apps and help you through those types of things. Whatever your needs are that we can help you with, or if not, we can refer you to a provider who can, that's what we're here for. We do our best to create healthier and more productive lives through the services we provide and we hope to continue doing that for individuals in the area."
Jenna Wilson can be reached at jenna.wilson@newspressnow.com.
