Nursing Services
Skilled nurses and psychiatric technicians provide crisis stabilization care to adults and children with acute mental health symptoms and those with chronic behavioral issues. Nurses oversee: Licensed Practical Nurses, psychiatric technicians of Adult Inpatient and Children’s/ Adolescent Inpatient units, Medication Clinic, Psychiatric Community Outreach Nursing Service (PCONS), 24– hour Crisis Hotline, and After-hour Emergency Intakes. All nursing staff promotes quality health care, provide acute and chronic nursing services to individuals with mental illnesses, emotional stress, behavioral problems, and addictive behaviors.
Nursing staff also work with other disciplinary teams to provide holistic care for the consumers they serve, promote a safe and clean environment, strive for excellent quality of care, and enhance operations to meet increasing demands and complexities in a timely manner.
Acute Care
GBHWC is the only organization that provides inpatient services for adults, children, and adolescents with serious mental illnesses. It is the department’s common practice to minimize a person’s stay in the Adult Inpatient Unit (AIU) or Children’s Inpatient Unit (CIU) within an appropriate time frame. The decrease in hospitalization may be attributed to an increase in outpatient services, such as in case management, counseling and outreach. Although there are no definitive causes for the decline in inpatient admissions, GBHWC and the island community continually seek to improve community-based services and as well as increasing educating the community on mental health issues.
Children’s Inpatient Unit
Hospitalization (24) twenty-four hour unit that provides comprehensive acute treatment for children age 4-12 years old and adolescents age 13-18 years old who are physically abused, suicidal, experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual abuse and/or molestation.
Adult Inpatient Unit
Hospitalization unit provides acute inpatient care to individuals who experience episodes of psychosis, who may pose danger to themselves or a threat to others, who become gravely disabled due to change in mental status, individuals who are diagnosed with co-occurring disorders such as mental illness and mental retardation, and those who have been adjudicated by the courts as not guilty by reason of insanity. The current inpatient unit operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Acute Emergency Intake
Is to provide initial crisis and management of crisis situations such as suicidal or homicidal thoughts, and wide range of personal and family problems. This is done through intake/emergency workers who conduct a screening interview including mental status examination (Psychiatric assessment) on any individual seeking health care services from the department. Nursing service division administers this program after regular outpatient clinic hours of operations and on holidays.
