Behavioral health services expand at Adventist Health St. Helena
February 2, 2021 (St. Helena, Calif.) – Patients seeking hospital-based care for mental health now have access to more services in the Napa Valley region, thanks to an expansion at Adventist Health St. Helena. In addition to its current 21-bed mental health unit, the hospital has opened a 10-bed behavioral medical health unit, the only one of its kind in the North Bay Region of California, to care for patients who have both medical and behavioral conditions.
“We’re grateful for this opportunity to expand this important service for our community,” said Dr. Steven Herber, Adventist Health St. Helena president.
The new behavioral medical health unit uses a collaborative approach with a multidisciplinary team of physicians, psychiatrists, nurses and other staff to provide personalized care for each patient, said Dr. Timothy Lyons, Adventist Health St. Helena medical officer.
Behavioral medical health units are rarely found in hospitals, Lyons said. “In many general acute care hospitals, patients with both medical and psychiatric conditions are receiving care in the same units as medical and surgical patients,” he said. “The behavioral medical health unit is designed to treat the complex needs of psychiatric patients with medical conditions that cannot be treated safely on a typical psychiatric or medical unit.”
The behavioral medical health unit, which fills space previously utilized for geriatrics care, opened its doors on January 25.
