The opening of the Renown Crisis Care Center in February was the culmination of a years-long journey involving multiple stakeholders and regional entities, including the state of Nevada and Washoe County.
Behavioral health services in the region recently leveled up with the opening of two new specialty care facilities.
Northern Nevada Health System offers greatly expanded inpatient acute rehabilitation and adult/senior behavioral health services at its new Northwest Specialty Hospital on Sharlands Avenue. Renown Health, meanwhile, recently celebrated the opening of the Renown Crisis Care Center on Galletti Way. Both facilities significantly expand access to behavioral health and acute rehabilitation services for regional residents.
Chris Cordero, associate administrator for Northern Nevada Medical Center, told NNBW at the Northwest Specialty Hospital’s late-January opening that with the region’s rapid population growth, healthcare services across the region are growing exponentially, but access to care remains lacking for residents of northwest Reno.
Northern Nevada Medical Center opened the region’s first freestanding emergency room in 2020 in the northwest, and has since added additional freestanding emergency medical facilities in North Valleys, Spanish Springs and Damonte Ranch.
“In Northwest Reno, we identified a dearth of healthcare services, and the freestanding ER at McCarran gave us a foothold to start meeting the needs of residents in this area,” Cordero said. “As we continue to grow and develop, we saw the need to address a wider scope of services for a different population.
“This facility gives us the opportunity to expand two of our sub-acute services. Right now those units are at our Sparks hospital, but this gives us the chance to grow into a new space in an area that needs these two excellent programs.
The building was formerly a skilled nursing facility that was open for just a few years before going dark. Moving acute rehab and behavioral health services to the new specialty hospital provides much-needed room for growth in those two specialty care areas, and it also provides an opportunity to update and modernize the space those programs occupied at NNMC on Vista Boulevard, Cordero said.
Dr. Takesah Cooper Behavioral health and acute rehab services currently occupy the sixth floor at the Sparks hospital, and NNMC is evaluating how to best repurpose that space, Cordero said.
“We want to reestablish ourselves as a critical care and surgical resource for this community, and we will be sharing our plans soon as we continue to assess the needs of the community,” he said. “We will evaluate new service lines and optimize the current footprint that we have for perioperative services.”
Jenna Thompson, NNMC’s director of med/surgery and acute rehab nursing, said the new hospital is a significant upgrade in terms of capacity from the hospital’s current facilities. There were only eight beds available for acute care and behavioral health patients at the Sparks hospital, and there were many instances where those spaces were maxed out, which dictated the hospital’s admissions and care options.
“We had to pick and choose who and when we could admit based on availability,” Thompson said. “We have been torn between leaving these acute med/surg beds open for surgical patients who need hospitalization, and our rehab patients who deserve their full stay too.
“Going from eight to 22 beds means we don’t have to make those hard decisions, and we can offer those services in a way that we had been unable to do.”
The Sharlands facility underwent significant renovations to transform it from a skilled nursing facility to an acute care and behavioral health hospital. SR Construction was the general contractor that spearheaded retrofitting work.
Staffing, meanwhile, involved bringing more than 150 employees together, including CNA, RNs, therapists, social workers, case managers and more, Cordero noted.
The opening of the Renown Crisis Care Center in February was the culmination of a years-long journey involving multiple stakeholders and regional entities, including the state of Nevada and Washoe County.
The facility provides 23-hour short-term behavioral support and crisis intervention services that will help alleviate patient visits to emergency rooms that typically aren’t often staffed with dedicated mental health support specialists.
Brian Erling, president and CEO said in a statement that the opening of the crisis care center strengthens Renown’s mental health infrastructure through expanded resources and access.
“The Renown Crisis Care Center provides first responders, law enforcement, emergency medical services personnel, firefighters, and crisis intervention teams with a dedicated, specialized facility to bring individuals in mental health crises, 24 hours a day, ensuring they receive appropriate care while freeing up resources and emergency departments for other critical needs,” Erling said.
Takesah Cooper, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences for Renown Health and University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, added that residents who are in a crisis that can’t be de-escalated through a phone call or interaction with a local crisis team have a safe place to receive stabilizing, short-term care.
“The Renown Crisis Care Center offers comprehensive assessments from an multidisciplinary team of RNs, licensed clinical social workers, family nurse practitioners, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners and psychiatrists to patients 18 and older,” Cooper said. “We offer 23-hour crisis observation and stabilization to alleviate immediate distress, connections to community resources such as inpatient psychiatric or detox beds, support from certified peer recovery specialists and care coordination to ensure smooth transition to the appropriate services.”
Steve Shell, vice president of behavioral health at Renown Health, added that most patients of the crisis care center will likely be stabilized within the first 23 hours of admissions. Patients that require additional care or intervention can stay for an additional amount of time.
“In the 15 years I’ve been in Reno, this is the project I am most proud of,” Shell said. “It’s an example of what can be accomplished when not-for-profit public and private entities come together to address the critical healthcare needs of our community.
“We are deeply grateful to our many community partners for their collaboration and support in making this much needed resource to Northern Nevada.”