With the closure of River Region's 50-bed behavioral health unit, anyone in Warren County experiencing a mental health crisis will have to go to Jackson to receive care.
Sitaniel Wimbley, Executive Director of the advocacy group National Alliance on Mental Illness Mississippi, says that the impact of these closures will be devastating for those living with serious mental illness.
“Most of the times when someone actually comes into a behavioral health center that is located at a hospital, they come in an emergency state, which means they are usually at their worst.. where will they go if the community mental health center is not available?” Wimbley said.
All of River Region's psychiatric beds have been transferred to Merit Health Central Mississippi in Jackson. Instead of increasing psychiatric care capacity in the capital city, it’s just making up for some of the beds recently lost. St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson announced it was shutting down its 83-bed behavioral health unit on June 5. Since River Region transferred its beds, Merit Health Central has been on psychiatric diversion multiple times, meaning they are at capacity and can't accept new patients.
When a person experiencing a mental health crisis cannot be admitted to any nearby behavioral health centers, they often wait in jail. On average during the 2022 fiscal year, 25 Mississippians waited in jail for a hospital bed, according to the Department of Mental Health.
Wimbley says this pattern is unacceptable, and will continue until mental health is treated the same as physical health and invested in by health systems.
“Mental health is not prioritized as much as mental health, but we have to understand without mental health, there is no physical health,” Wimbley said.
Of the 116 hospital facilities across Mississippi, only 20 have psychiatric beds.
