Good Samaritan Hospital unveils four flexible-use emergency rooms

WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its four newly renovated flexible-use rooms, which can be used for medical emergencies and can be quickly transformed for behavioral health patients.

The rooms have wooden doors that can be locked open or closed to hide the various medical equipment held in each room. Previously, nurse manager Nicole Baker said, staff members would have to quickly remove the equipment from a room if it was going to be used for a behavioral health patient. This took extra time, and items could be lost in the shuffle.

The overflow rooms for behavioral health patients were also located in the middle of the department, rather than being easily accessible from the emergency room, she said.

“Probably, I’m going to say three to four years ago, the thought was that we could do better,” Baker said. “We could have these rooms that were easily converted, make it safer for that populace, while still keeping the medical need if we have to have it.”

Tina Citro, president of Good Samaritan Hospital, said behavioral health crisis visits to WellSpan emergency departments have increased by over 100% over the last three years. Holiday seasons typically see further spikes. The new rooms were first put into use the week of Thanksgiving after receiving all necessary approvals.

The renovations were made possible by a $1 million grant from the state Department of Human Services. Citro said about $700,000 went toward the rooms, and the remaining $300,000 went toward three reinforced steel doors that prevent patients from leaving the area without authorization.

“This will make the environment safer for the patients and maybe make it a little easier for you to do your job,” she said to health workers in attendance.

She credited state Senator Chris Gebhard, who was also in attendance, as a major factor in securing the funding. Gebhard highlighted the increase in mental health concerns in the area and across the country, and spoke about the importance of supporting local hospitals.

“It has become just a major challenge for how we address that and how we treat these folks that are dealing with these issues, and one of the places that that treatment starts is in the emergency room,” he said. “When the emergency room is not equipped to handle that, that certainly creates major problems — not only for the individuals that are here, but also for the staff.”

Citro said the emergency room is often the first stop for behavioral health patients when they need assistance. After the hospital’s professionals ensure they’re medically stable, they can connect them with other resources to continue treatment.

“Especially in this community, the emergency room is the front door for a lot of our community members,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we had this ability to quickly transform these rooms should the need arise between medical and then making that just a safe behavioral health room.”