Evergreen Hospital Hosts Two Mental Health Care Forums Each Month - 54 turned out last week.

Evergreen Hospital
Meeting held in Phys. & Surg. Building, Tan 100.

Evergreen Hospital hosts two Mental Health Care Forums on the 3rd Tuesday at 7PM each month. 54 turned out at meetings last week.   

I report on the local governments of Greater Redmond, WA., which includes Evergreen Hospital.  The elected Board of Commissioners hold their Regular Meetings on the same evening, 6:30PM as the Forums.

This week, I took a break from my government coverage to visit the Evergreen Mental Health Care Forums.  I was totally surprised by the high turnout to these Forums.  Thirty-seven attendees showed up at "Nami-Eastside's" sponsored program on "Involuntary Treatment." The CHADD (*ADD/ADHD) Forum next door hosted 17.  It's unusual to find this kind of turnout at public meetings, especially for health topics. 

The Mental Health Care topic on involuntary treatment was quite interesting - and sad. Read More >>
  Involuntary commitment for treatment is a legal decision, not diagnostic.  Washington State has strict civil libertarian laws (RCW 71.05) protecting the patient (from themselves) for their rights to liberty.  King County has 29 over-worked "Designated Mental Health Providers" (DMHP) with civil authority to detain mentally ill patients for 72 hours without a Judge. But, the diagnosable ill patient must be at risk to others, himself, or property.   

Designated Mental Health Providers can be reached at:  206-263-9200, 24/7.  Jo-Ellen Watson, PhD was our speaker.  She said she detains about 54% of the people she sees.  Call 911 for help with the violently ill.

In-patient psychiatric bed capacity for involuntary detainment is exceptionally poor in Washington State    On the Eastside, only Overlake and Evergreen offer beds for involuntary detainment.  Overlake has detained 105 patients and Evergreen detained 48 since the beginning of the year.  About 20% of those involuntarily detained needed a medical bed for an average of 4 days.  Overlake, Swedish, St. Francis, UWAB, and Auburn offer Emergency Department Inpatient Psychiatric and Inpatient Medical bed services.  Evergreen offers Emergency Department Inpatient Medical bed services.  They have no Inpatient Psychiatric bed services.   

If you're interested in the upcoming schedule of speakers and topics their websites:  http://www.nami-eastside.org/ (Mental Health Care) and CHADD (Children and Adults of ADD/Hyperactivity Disorder).  I'm not sure if Evergreen Healthcare lists mental health care meetings, but you can try them.

Opinion By Bob Yoder
Sources:  Jo-Ellen Watson, DCHS, Crisis and Commitment Services Section

*ADD (attention deficit disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are behavioral disorders, not psychiatric.