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Today's piece has been written by Katrina Bell, a Mental Health Technician at Ohio Valley Medical Center’s Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Center in West Virginia.
We need your help saving mental health care in West Virginia. Two mental health facilities that provide acute, inpatient, psychiatric care are slated to close their doors in Wheeling, West Virginia. My name is Katrina Bell, and I have worked for the last 14 years at Ohio Valley Medical Center’s psychiatric facilities. These are the Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Center as well as the Hillcrest Behavioral Center. These facilities are the only inpatient, acute, psychiatric centers in the Northern Panhandle of the state.
We were recently informed that our hospital will be closing within 60-90 days and no later than October 7th of this year. We were devastated by this news, not only for us but for the vulnerable population we serve. We want your help to save these life-saving facilities.
Our services are a must for our community. Local shelters and residential treatment centers turn to our facility whenever their residents are a danger to themselves or others. They will no longer have this option if we close. The community at large tends to forget about severe mental illness because they don’t see it firsthand, but it is alive and harming this community every day. Abuse, depression, self-harm, uncontrolled anger, runaways, and drug addiction are what we see walk through our doors. Without our services, this population and their families will have no acute care outlets to turn to. We are a safe place for when outpatient therapies are no longer working and more intensive therapy is needed. Without our services, there is the potential for higher rates of suicide and self-harm as a result of untreated mental illness. No one wants to see more deaths.
We have been the unsung heroes in the mental health community for so long that it is time to draw attention to the services we provide including:
These are all provided in a highly-monitored, therapeutic setting.
At the heart of it all, remains a core group of employees who will fight to advocate for our patients and keep our mental health facilities open. However, it is a huge fight and we need help. The children and adults we see can thrive with treatment but it is unthinkable what the future would hold for them if our doors close.
Those of you who are reading this please advocate for us. Spread awareness, share this story and continue the fight for mental health care. This is our fight, yes. but it’s also the fight of everyone who has a mental illness or anyone who cares about a person with mental illness. This is when we all must band together to protect the most vulnerable among us. Although the loss of our jobs would be extremely hard on us, it would never be as hard as the fight our patients face for proper mental health care.
Contact these people and tell them to save Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Center as well as the Hillcrest Behavioral Center Wheeling, West Virginia.
Governor Jim Justice
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin
West Virginia House Representative David McKinley
West Virginia Senator William Ihlenfeld
West Virginia Senator Ryan Weld
Don’t forget, children and youths with mental illnesses, not just adults, are counting on all of us to save these facilities. Speak out today and tell people that these types of closures are unacceptable and harm people with mental illness. We matter too.
Katrina Bell is a Mental Health Technician at Ohio Valley Medical Center’s Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Center (RBC). Katrina has been a Mental Health Technician for the last 14 years. She currently resides in Martins Ferry, Ohio with her two-year-old daughter, Everly. Katrina graduated from Waynesburg University in 2004 with a B.A. in Psychology as well as Criminal Justice. Katrina, along with her coworkers, are helping the fight to keep the RCB open. Katrina is passionate about working with children to overcome trauma and fight against the stigma of mental illness.
You can contact Katrina by email at kbell821917@gmail.com or on Facebook for more information or to offer additional suggestions for ways to save these facilities.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
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Hope it gets shut down for good.