First room for mental health emergencies opened in the Atlantic

The governor of the Atlantic, Elsa Noguera, on Tuesday inaugurated the mental health emergency service at the ESE Universitaria del Atlántico (UNA), whose purpose is to treat patients with disorders associated with mental health, such as panic attacks, suicide attempts, agitation, anxiety or depression.

The emergency unit will provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a team of high-level professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, general practitioners, nurses, clinical assistants and social workers. The service will also be enabled in the municipalities through mental health units in the Soledad departmental hospital and in Sabanalarga.

The adaptation and maintenance of the headquarters infrastructure involved an investment of 900 million pesos, aimed at changing electricity, drinking water and sanitary networks; installation of a new air conditioning and voice and data system for patient supervision, as well as the biomedical equipment and the required furniture.

“We are putting the new mental health services emergency unit at the service of Barranquilla and the department. This is the response to some services that have been demanded of us and that were also deepened with the effects of the pandemic and the confinement measures, that led to many people feeling sad and presenting psychological situations that demand some kind of attention, and that is why we are delivering this unit that will provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a team of high-level professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers,” said the Governor.

The president also stressed that the headquarters of the new ESE Universitaria del Atlántico (UNA) “what it seeks is to expand the offer of services, not only are we going to have hospitalization as it was before, but we are going to have urgency, outpatient consultation and hospitalization, that a couple of weeks we are going to deliver it to the new area where they were made significant investments”.

Noguera said that they will arrive in the municipalities with exclusive mental health units in the Soledad and Sabanalarga departmental hospitals, to care for these populations.

“The message is that if you know people, family, friends, neighbors who have a mental health situation, know that here they will find professionals who, with great warmth, will provide that service and everything that is required in the future with a sufficient supply of mental health services,” he added.

It should be noted that patients who arrive at the emergency room will be treated, regardless of their health regime, and will receive immediate psychiatric first aid from health professionals, who will define the behavior to be followed.

For her part, the departmental health secretary, Alma Solano, explained that the care that will be provided in Sabanalarga and Soledad will also be provided by specialized mental health personnel for emergency care.

“Depending on the patient's case, the staff may refer him to the emergency center located in the entity's mental office. On the other hand, the pediatric headquarters of the ESE Universitaria del Atlántico will enable the emergency of pediatric psychiatry to care for underage patients with symptoms associated with mental health problems. They will not only be patients from Barranquilla and Atlántico, but also from the Caribbean region,” Solano said.

The manager of the UNA, Luis Posso, stressed that there was no institution in the Caribbean region that devoted part of its emergency care, specifically to these human pathologies. “Given the great importance that mental health diseases are acquiring after the pandemic, it was necessary to have a specialized service in this area that would effectively concentrate specialized care by psychiatry and by a whole professional human team to solve all this problem,” he said.

At the same time, the Department of Health also has the Mental Health Hotline 3176218394 for those who need support in issues of depression, anxiety, distress and situations that are going through difficult times and affecting their mental health, where they are guided by psychologists and, according to their emotional state, can expedite priority appointments at the UNA headquarters.

Nury Logreira, explained that the work involved an investment of 900 million pesos and the triage areas, observation room, waiting rooms, resuscitation room, stretcher, ambulances and other medical equipment will be enabled to respond to emergencies.

“The necessary maintenance and adjustments were carried out in the physical infrastructure of walls, floors, ceilings; change of electricity, drinking water and sanitary networks; installation of a new air conditioning and voice and data system for patient supervision, as well as the biomedical equipment and the required furniture,” said the civil servant.

Likewise, he added that the emergency unit has an emergency lighting system and the support of a power plant and a potable water pumping system to ensure the continuous provision of the service.