SYLACAUGA — The Health Care Authority was presented Wednesday with an emergency certificate of need from the State Health Planning and Development Agency for a renovation project that will add an additional 15 geriatric psychiatric beds at Coosa Valley Medical Center.The new unit will be on the fourth floor of the hospital’s original facility. According to a press release from SHPDA, the estimated cost of the project will be about $3,315,683.
Demographics show the population is aging and living longer, said Glenn Sisk, CVMC chief executive officer, and with about 1,100 nursing home beds in Talladega, Coosa and Tallapoosa counties, there is an increasing number of geriatric patients using the hospital’s emergency room for services that require psychiatric treatment.
“The emergency room setting is not appropriate to treat patients that require seeing a psychiatrist and the department has no psychiatrist available to treat them,” Sisk said.
The new geriatric unit will serve patients 65 and older, and those identified as needing psychiatric services will be recommended to the unit in several ways, including referrals from their physician, doctors outside the community, nursing homes, assisted living centers, as well as emergency room referrals
“Patients recognized as needing psychiatric services may be recommended for any number of reasons, including a past history of mental illness, sudden behavioral changes, Alzheimer’s, among others,” said Vanessa Green, vice president of continuum management. “The new services will help patients to continue to function at the highest level.”
The architectural drawings for the project are nearing completion and will be sent to the Alabama Department of Public Health for approval.
“We are hoping to begin seeing patients by late summer,” Sisk said.
CVMC is also undergoing an additional expansion in geriatric services that is a separate project from the geriatric psychiatric unit. The expansion will result in 50 nursing home beds and 35 transitional care beds.
“Coosa Valley is licensed for 85 nursing home beds and we currently have 75. This expansion will allow us to reach the maximum amount we are licensed for,” Sisk said.
