Behavioral Health Services
Arroyo Grande Community Hospital - Emergency Department
Resources for those suffering behavioral health conditions are insufficient on both a national and local level, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the increase of behavioral health conditions in all age groups. The lack of sufficient mental health services forces many behavioral health patients in crisis to seek care in the Emergency Department, where they must be evaluated by a Mental Health Evaluation Team (MHET) worker before being released or transferred to an appropriate facility.
Historically, the few shared MHET workers contracted through the County were located in the city of San Luis Obispo, served all four of the County’s hospitals, and it could take several hours for them to arrive at the hospital for patient evaluations. In 2019, Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation began raising funds to provide an on-site MHET worker through the Behavioral Health Services Fund. The on-site MHET worker was the Carrol Pruett Philanthropic Fraternity giving society’s beneficiary project in 2019, the Hoelle Tompkins Sisterhood Society's beneficiary project in 2021, and the project has received $100,000 in grant funding from the State of California.
Having an on-site MHET worker has been incredibly beneficial in providing immediate mental health evaluations, enabling behavioral health patients to receive the most appropriate care in an efficient manner and facilitating the rapid transfer of patients to the appropriate care setting. Continued support of the Behavioral Health Services Fund is crucial to ensuring the best possible care is available for all local behavioral health patients. Learn more at SupportArroyoGrande.org/Behavioral-Health-Services.
An on-site Mental Health Evaluation Team worker is a crucial step in making strides to address the behavioral health needs of our community. We hope you will partner with us in providing these much needed services. To help support this program, please click here or contact us.