Richmond to Get New Children’s Psychiatric Facility
Abstract
Plans are underway in Virginia to replace an outdated treatment center for children who have mental disorders with a new psychiatric hospital offering an expanded array of services.
The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System will construct a new children’s psychiatric hospital in Richmond, replacing the building housing the Virginia Treatment Center for Children (VTCC).
Renderings of the new children’s psychiatric hospital planned for Richmond, Va.
The Virginia General Assembly last year approved a $41.3 million allocation for construction of the estimated $56 million facility, which will retain the VTCC name.
Architectural plans are still in process but, like many recently constructed psychiatric facilities, the new center will offer views to exterior green spaces and permit interior access to courtyards for patients, said Alexandria Lewis, Ed.D., executive director of the VTCC. “We will have spaces that include large windows to bring light into internal environments and stimulate recovery.”
The new children’s psychiatric hospital planned for Richmond, Va., is the product of long-term efforts by the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, said Alexandria Lewis, Ed.D., executive director.
The new facility was the result of a long process.
“We were really thrilled to have bipartisan support from our university, the legislature, the health system, and great support from community volunteers,” said Joel Silverman, M.D., a professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine. “People are recognizing the importance of mental health treatment to produce healthier communities, and that’s a really exciting thing.”
The VTCC now provides inpatient, acute care, crisis stabilization, and outpatient mental health services for children and adolescents aged 3 to 17.
The center was established in 1956, and the present building opened in 1962, so the time had arrived for a new building, said Silverman.
“The building is not state-of-the-art and needs replacing,” he said. “We have reached a tipping point recently in which the public recognizes the increased need for psychiatric services in general and child psychiatry in particular.”
The new hospital, scheduled for completion in August 2016, will increase capacity from 26 to 32 inpatient beds while adding space for research and an ambulatory clinic, neither of which the VTCC now has.
At present, the VTCC serves patients and clinicians across Virginia. It is a referral site for children who need acute inpatient evaluation and stabilization, but also has other functions, inside and outside of the building. Affiliated psychiatrists who are also board-certified pediatricians work in the Department of Pediatrics to train pediatric residents in aspects of child mental health and to serve as information sources for attendings.
Child psychiatry residents and fellows work in pediatricians’ offices in the Richmond area or provide real-time phone consultations to discuss whether a patient needs acute care or medication.
“Hopefully, the pediatricians will get increasingly comfortable managing child psychiatric patients,” he said. “It works in reverse, too. When dealing with nonpsychiatric diseases, we rely on our colleagues. Ultimately, the goal is to get patients the care they need.”
The new VTCC will be four miles from the current site next to the main VCU hospital, so much of the interaction with colleagues will incorporate telemedicine.
The VTCC also places doctors in schools and holds open meetings for the public at which faculty members discuss mental illness.
“The public recognizes the increased need for psychiatric services in general and child psychiatry in particular,” said Joel Silverman, M.D., chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
“Another important element will be the Children’s Mental Health Resources Center, where people from families that have already been through a complex mental health system can help others who are navigating it for the first time,” said Lewis.
The project comes as debate simmers in Richmond over two competing proposals to build a general children’s hospital. In that controversy, a group of pediatricians, another hospital system, and a billionaire donor have argued for an independent, free-standing facility. On the other side stand the VCU Health System and HCA Healthcare, which are pushing for a children’s hospital affiliated with VCU.
The outcome of this tug-of-war won’t affect the new VTCC, said both Silverman and Lewis.
“We’re open to working with anyone or any hospital that has child psychiatry needs,” said Silverman. “I don’t know the status of the new children’s hospital, but we stand ready to work with them.” ■
Information about the Virginia Treatment Center for Children can be accessed here.
