Kaweah Health Partnership Brings Youth in Crisis Stabilization Unit to Central California

VISALIA, Calif., June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) has been awarded a grant for $4,909,775.60 to partner with Kaweah Health for the creation of a child and adolescent crisis stabilization unit (CSU). The grant from California Health Facilities Financing Authority will allow Kaweah Health, an integrated health system serving Central California, to build the first 24-hour site for youth in crisis in Tulare County.

The CSU will provide crisis intervention services for children and youth under age 21, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will be a 12-bed unit with four private rooms for acutely agitated children and youth, severely mentally ill children and youth, or very young children to separate them for safety. Services will include crisis evaluation, intervention, and stabilization, as well as psychiatric services and discharge care. Care will be given regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Kaweah Health is establishing a temporary Visalia location and finalizing a permanent comprehensive child and adolescent behavioral health campus with multiple services.

"Mental health and wellness is a major issue in Tulare County. Children are among the most impacted portions of our population, especially as a result of the COVID pandemic," said Marc Mertz, Kaweah Health's Chief Strategy Officer, noting that today, these children are seen in local emergency departments or must leave the community for mental health services, while far too many go untreated. "Without this grant funding, the development of this facility would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible."

Kaweah Health will staff this new venture thanks in part to its Graduate Medical Education Psychiatry Residency program, added in 2013, and a new Child and Adolescent fellowship added to the program in 2021. The fellowship trains child and adolescent psychiatrists who will positively impact the health of youth and their families in the Central Valley with an emphasis on the underserved in rural communities," said Program Director Dr. Cory Jaques.

The Psychiatry residency is successful, with about half of its graduates remaining in the area to practice or get further training. Kaweah Health also has a 60-bed mental health hospital in Visalia, along with behavioral health treatment options at its Lindsay and Exeter clinics.

Kaweah Health is a publicly-owned community healthcare organization that provides comprehensive health services to the greater Visalia region and Tulare County. Visit www.kaweahhealth.org.

CONTACT: Laura Florez-McCusker, 1 (559) 624-5985, [email protected]

SOURCE Kaweah Health