UNC REX Healthcare is excited to
announce the opening of our behavioral
health zone of the emergency department.
It's an eight-bed secured unit for our
behavioral health patients waiting for
inpatient psychiatric facility services.
We see quite a bit of behavioral health
patients. We see on average, a hundred a
month in the emergency department. 
We hold usually about four patients a day
that are waiting for this inpatient
placement. It can be as high as eight to
ten patients, hence the eight beds that
we built.
The unit itself is locked.
We have several staff only areas that
are badge activated, so only access with
us. We have behavioral health furniture,
so it is very heavy. We have the
integrated blinds, which is safety glass
with the blinds that we are able to
control so that they have access to
natural light. There's cameras which we
can monitor every hallway, 
in addition to the cameras in the room and
in the day room here. So we've built in a
lot of safety features for both the
patients and the staff. We have it very
open with glass and the large hallways,
so that people can walk. We have the
social area, so that they can socialize.
So currently our patients, when they come
into the emergency department, they may
stay for a day or so waiting for this
placement in a psychiatric facility and
the emergency department is noisy, it's
chaotic, you are dealing with life and
death situation over there, there is not
the ability to socialize, to walk around
freely, to talk, really because it is
so loud and chaotic. So over here they'll
be able to do all of those things, plus
have time to be alone, to work with
puzzles and to have diversion activities as
well.
I don't know who it was, but we are just
very thankful, because this is meeting a
great need in our community.
What it does is put people in the right environment,
as they deescalate from a behavioral
health crisis and they're waiting for
placement - and we believe by adding this
environment, where there are windows,
where it is a safe environment, where
people have a real bed - these are
important things to start the healing
process for them.
We are very excited, the staff that have
volunteered to work over here 
and have chosen to work over here, they
just can't wait for this to open to make
a difference!
