While they battle coronavirus, North Bay hospitals worry about surge in mental health cases

If you’re wondering if the North Bay’s largest health care systems are ready for the surge in rising coronavirus cases, the answer is yes. But there’s another surge that’s heightened their alarm: a spike in mental health care needs.

These concerns were among the issues addressed at the Business Journal’s Health Care Conference virtual event on Nov. 19. (Watch the video of the event below.) The panel’s speakers included executives from Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, St. Joseph Health, MarinHealth and Aurora Behavioral Health, whose top leader first addressed mental health concerns.

“I do believe that there will be a huge mental health surge in patients and that we haven’t seen that yet,” said Susan Rose, CEO at Aurora. “For our hospital, it’s not the number of cases that we’re seeing in our facility, it’s the type of patients that we’re seeing. They’re far more acute than our patients have been in the past.”

Tarek Salaway, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente’s Marin-Sonoma service area, added another layer to Rose’s assessment.

“The additional piece here that’s a little more deeply concerning is the incidence and rise among pediatric psychiatric cases that we’re seeing,” Salaway said. “There are very few resources across the state and across the country for these patients, and it takes an enormous amount of effort to try to find resources and care providers for the pediatric patient population.”

Kaiser’s therapists and psychiatrists have been able to cast a wider net by providing telehealth video visits for patients who don’t want to leave their homes, and continuing in-person appointments for patients wanting to come in, said Michael Shulman, M.D., physician-in-chief and urologist at Kaiser’s Santa Rosa Medical Center.

Mental health care needs also have strained emergency departments, with MarinHealth Medical Center being one example, according to CEO David Klein.

“People that are presenting with mental health issues, psychosocial problems and substance abuse problems is up 40% of what it was pre-pandemic,” Klein said of the data from MarinHealth’s emergency department. “Not all of these people are being admitted. In fact, most of them aren’t and, ironically, not many of them actually have COVID.”

And there’s no easy remedy.

“The way to fix that is a real dilemma because it doesn’t seem that we’re going to be out of this pandemic situation for a while,” Klein said, noting the best course of action is to pay attention to the diverse needs of the community and ensure prompt and appropriate care is given.

Tyler Hedden, chief executive at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital also weighed in on the stress to the system.

“The volumes are staggering as compared to last year at the same time,” he said. “Our emergency department is up anywhere from 17% to 24%, and mental health is a primary or secondary diagnosis.”

Another fallout from the pandemic is the stress on children related to doing their school work from home and learning by videoconference, Hedden said. St. Joseph Health has worked with Sonoma State University on a program called Support Our Students (SOS) to help children learn as effectively at home as at the school grounds, he said.

The executives also recommended employers keep an appropriate supply of personal protective equipment at their offices, avoid holiday celebrations at work, keep employees working remotely whenever possible, and to try to find time to take a vacation from all the stressors.

There also was enthusiasm about the two coronavirus vaccines on the horizon. And several of the speakers said that so far, the flu outbreak has been relatively mild, but stressed the importance of still getting that annual vaccine.

“I think many of us thought when this pandemic unfolded earlier in the year that we’d be looking at a few months,” said Bill Carroll, chief medical executive at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital. “I think as people start to come to the realization that this is going to be going on indefinitely, could be well into if not through next year — and you add the shutdowns, the fires and the impact of that, it’s just really, really taken a toll.”

The Business Journal’s health care conference was underwritten by Sutter Health. Major sponsors were Kaiser Permanente, Marin Healthcare District, Meritage Medical Network and St. Joseph Health. Sonoma County Medical Association provided support for the event, which was co-hosted by Western Health Advantage.