Thanks to a $3.1 million grant awarded by the state of California, Orange County will establish two emergency medical centers tailored to treating patients experiencing sudden psychiatric episodes.
The grant will help fund building renovations and program start-up costs at two undetermined locations in the county.
Hospital emergency rooms are often ill-equipped to treat patients suffering from psychiatric episodes and staff members lack the proper training needed, said Michael Brant-Zawadski, MD, executive medical director of Hoag Neurosciences Institute in Newport Beach, Calif.
Orange County officials believe the new psychiatric emergency centers will offer a treatment solution. Once the centers open, Orange County police and emergency medical personnel will be instructed to take psychiatric patients to these centers — instead of the emergency room — where they can stay for just under 24 hours.
"Patients could be evaluated, discharged and transferred to the proper outpatient treatment program," said Dr. Brant-Zawadski.