Building the road to recovery
Where do people in Shelby County get help for mental illness?
Zelia Baugh believes the new answer to that question will be Shelby Baptist’s new 20-bed, adult in-patient psychiatric unit on their fifth floor. She announced the new operation at the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce meeting Aug. 7.
Baugh, who currently serves as the executive director for psychiatric services for Baptist Health System, said that about 1,200 adult patients have left Shelby County to seek psychiatric treatment.
“Yet you are one of the largest, and continue to be the fastest growing counties in the state,” Baugh said, “so obviously the data reflected that there was a need for adult in-patient psychiatric beds.”
One year ago, Shelby Baptist met with city officials to discuss the needs in Shelby County, and now they anticipate opening the new psychiatric wing the first week of January 2015.
“We are really excited because we are going to be one of the few psych units in the state that can say we have all private rooms, but we do have all private rooms,” Baugh said. “We think that will enhance the patients’ ability to recover, also afford them some privacy and at the same time create a safer environment.”
The unit will also include an open nurses station and multiple safety features required of psychiatric units. They have already begun some preliminary construction and will soon have a more detailed timeline.
Baugh said she believes it is Baptist Health System’s mission within Shelby Baptist to: “Create an environment where people can have hope. They can feel like they have an opportunity and a chance to recover because mental illness is something you can recover from. You can lead and be a very productive member of society.”
Mental Health Fast Facts
As shared by Zelia Baugh of Baptist Health System
36,000 people died by suicide in 2010
12.4 suicides occurred nationally for every 100,000 people in 2010
12.4 rate is highest it has been in 15 years
In Alabama, 14.2 suicides occurred for every 100,000 people in 2010
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.
Every 13.7 minutes someone commits suicide in the U.S.
Twenty to 50 percent of people who kill themselves had previously attempted suicide