(SitNews) Anchorage, Alaska - The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services announced Saturday they have entered into a contract with North Star Hospital to make 14 beds available to the State of Alaska for voluntary and involuntary behavioral health patients as well as alcohol and chemical dependency patients. This measure will help alleviate pressure on Alaska’s behavioral health system and the shortage of beds available at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API).

“We thank our partners at North Star Hospital and staff at the DHSS Division of Behavioral Health for working together to get this contract in place,” said DHSS Commissioner Jay Butler. “Alaska is currently experiencing a mental health capacity crisis and a serious lack of beds to treat Alaskans in need of psychiatric care. This agreement will allow patients experiencing a mental health crisis to be treated sooner and in the most appropriate setting possible.”

Under the contract, North Star Hospital is now identified as a designated facility that can take involuntary mental health commitments. The department will be able to transfer some patients who are subject to a 30-day civil commitment order to North Star Hospital to receive care.

A 30-day civil commitment is ordered by a judge after a person has received an order for evaluation and the results of that 72-hour evaluation results in a petition commitment to a treatment facility. North Star Hospital will provide treatment during that involuntary commitment period, but will not accept mental health holds off the street prior to a 30-day order being issued.

North Star Hospital has agreed to provide a minimum of five beds for involuntary civil commitments; the nine remaining beds will be used for voluntary behavioral health patients and voluntary substance use disorder treatment. The hospital may opt to use all 14 beds for involuntary civil commitment patients.

On the Web:

State Prepared to Incarcerate Mental Health Patients; Endangement an Issue with Correctional Officers Association By MARY KAUFFMAN - According to the Alaska Correctional Officers Association (ACOA), on October 9, 2018, the State of Alaska Department of Corrections announced that it will begin incarcerating in State prisons the mental health patients who are referred to and currently reside in the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API). - More...
SitNews - October 12, 2018

Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

Alaska Dept. of Health & Social Services
www.dhss.alaska.gov

 

Representations of fact and opinions in comments posted are solely those of the individual posters and do not represent the opinions of Sitnews.

SitNews ©2018
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources. E-mail your news & photos to editor@sitnews.us Photographers choosing to submit photographs for publication to SitNews are in doing so granting their permission for publication and for archiving. SitNews does not sell photographs. All requests for purchasing a photograph will be emailed to the photographer.