New facility improves
and de-stigmatizes
mental health care for
young patients
By ALEXA ST. JOHN
Daily Staff Reporter
The Nyman Family Unit for Child
and Adolescent Mental Health and
Wellness, a new pediatric inpatient
psychiatric unit within C.S. Mott
Children’s Hospital, opened April 4.
The unit is a structural and techno-
logical improvement from the previ-
ous unit located
in
the
Health
System’s old chil-
dren’s hospital.
Construction
of the unit, which
began
about
three years ago,
was funded both
by the Univer-
sity of Michigan
and a donation
from
psycho-
therapist Jo Elyn Nyman. The unit
can accommodate up to 16 pediatric
patients through the age of 17.
Ben Biermann, inpatient director
for child and adolescent psychiatry,
said the old psychiatric unit needed
improvements to provide the spe-
cialized type of care young patients
need.
“It’s an inpatient unit for treat-
ing kids and adolescents who have
a serious psychiatric illness,” Bier-
mann said. “Most of the kids who
are admitted to the unit are there
because there’s a safety concern.
These are kids who have severe
depression and are feeling sui-
cidal, or who have psychotic symp-
toms, or who are having significant
behavioral disturbances or other
dangerous behaviors such as eat-
ing disorders or substance abuse.
It’s a safe place for those kids to get
assessed and treated and get a safe
transition to outpatient care.”
Nursing
Supervisor
Nicole
Figueroa said the new unit has an
increased focused on creating a
healing environment than the old
unit.
“It’s really important to have a
state-of-the-art unit for patients,
particularly pediatric patients, with
mental health diagnoses because it
is a stigmatized group of patients
and a lot of other institutions are
older or they haven’t put a lot of
thought into the design, so having
a place where kids can really heal
with their family around creates the
best healing environment for the
patient and their family,” Figueroa
said.
Biermann
echoed
Figueroa’s
sentiments, saying the unit aims to
decrease the stigma associated with
mental illness.
“Children and adolescents do
struggle with psychiatric disorders
just like their adult counterparts,”
Biermann said. “Having the unit in
the children’s hospital, along with
all
the
other
patients
receiv-
ing
medical
treatment, does
a lot to erase
stigma, to bring
psychiatric
dis-
orders and men-
tal health issues
to public aware-
ness.”
According to
Biermann,
hav-
ing the pediatric psychiatric unit in
Mott is advantageous for interac-
tions with other departments.
“The fact that we’re right in the
children’s hospital makes it easier
for us to get consultation from the
medical services and makes us
more accessible to our pediatric col-
leagues who might need our help
with their patients,” Biermann said.
Biermann
added
that
there
are additionally many structural
improvements in the new unit,
including the larger size and visibil-
ity of patients.
“It is much more functional.
There are some important safety
features, like a lot of the sight lines
that are used to be able to look up
and down the hallway and see where
the patients are, are improved. In
the old unit, there were a lot of hid-
den spaces, and the shape of the unit
didn’t lend itself to being able to see
where the patients were,” Biermann
said.
According to Biermann, the new
unit can accommodate families who
want to stay over with their chil-
dren. It also has improved work-
spaces for staff members, doctors
and nurses as well as a separate area
for patients who need particularly
intensive care.
Both Biermann and Figueroa said
thus far the unit has received posi-
tive feedback from both patients and
their families and has been operat-
ing at full capacity since its opening.
“We have a large hospital at U-M
that cares for kids and so, to have
also this unit that is caring for kids
within the bigger institution, that
just shows U-M’s great commitment
to outstanding psychiatric care and
mental health care as a whole for the
University,” Figueroa said.
Biermann said those who lead
the unit are happy with its improve-
ments but are in the process of mak-
ing further additions, such as hiring
more staff members to improve the
delivery of care and bring more
specified care to patients. The
unit additionally aims to continue
improving parental and family
involvement int he care process.
“The University of Michigan can
serve as a model of excellence for
inpatient psychiatric care,” Bier-
mann said. “I think we provide
state-of-the-art care, and now we do
so in a state-of-the-art environment
and are pretty cutting-edge in terms
of the services we have.”
The University Health System
and psychiatric unit staff is current-
ly discussing what will be done with
the previous unit.
9
NEWS
Thursday, May 5, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
New children’s psych unit
invites positive feedback
MARINA ROSS/Daily
Flint resident protests Gov. Rick Snyder (R) outside of Northwestern High School in Flint, MI.
FLINT LIVES MATTER
“Having the unit
in the children’s
hospital...does
a lot to erase
stigma”
and we need legislation to both
pay the debt and make sure that
there are structural changes as
well,” Chang said in an interview
with The Michigan Daily. “The
Detroit Democrats — I and my
colleagues — have been working
really hard for
a while now
on trying to
advocate
for
both
paying
down
the
debt as well
as some other
changes.
We
are
going
to
continue
to
fight
for
Detroit
kids
and make sure that we get some
movement here.”
Union
Interim
President
Ivy Bailey railed against the
forecasted suspension in pay in
an e-mail sent to union members
on Monday.
“There’s a basic agreement
in America: When you put in a
day’s work, you’ll receive a day’s
pay. DPS is breaking that deal,”
Bailey wrote. “Unfortunately,
by refusing to guarantee that we
will be paid for our work, DPS is
effectively locking our members
out of the classrooms.”
Rhodes is the most recent
state-appointed
emergency
manager,
following
the
resignation of Darnell Early, who
faced much criticism over both
his handling of DPS and the city
of Flint, where he also acted as
emergency manager during the
water crisis. DPS has been under
an emergency manager since
2009 and has been operating
under a deficit of $515 million.
In March, Gov. Rick Snyder
signed a bill
to appropriate
DPS
$48.7
million so the
district could
stay open until
June 30. He
said he hopes
to
continue
efforts
to
find
a
more
permanent
solution.
“I
will
continue
working
with lawmakers on a long-
term solution to restructure
debt and direct more resources
towards the classroom,” Snyder
said in a statement. “Certainly
today’s news is another sign of
how urgently that solution is
needed.”
Snyder
further
criticized
the sickouts on a visit to Flint
Monday morning.
“That’s not a constructive
act with respect to getting
legislation through,” he said.
Bailey told Fox Detroit that
teachers should not be expected
to report to schools on Tuesday.
DPS
From Page 1
When you put in
a day’s work, you’ll
receive a day’s pay.
DPS is breaking that
deal,