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Dorothea Dix Adolescent Care Unit: New facility opens

By Savanah Ramsey, posted Apr 6, 2022 on BizFayetteville.com

On Friday, March 25, Cape Fear Valley Health hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and self-guided tours for the new Dorothea Dix Adolescent Care Unit.

The facility is located at 3425-B Melrose Road in Fayetteville.
At the event, several city and state officials were in attendance including Senator Kirk deViere, Board of Directors Larry Lancaster, County Commissioner Tony Stewart, Board member Tammy Thurman, and many more.
The facility is almost 11,000 square feet and will house 16 inpatient beds for adolescents ages 12-17 and provide acute inpatient behavioral health care with around-the-clock staff with at least one psychiatrist and four psychiatry residents present.
Currently, the closest inpatient facility for adolescent behavioral health is 60 miles away.
"In North Carolina, 84 of our 100 counties are considered mental health professional shortage areas," said Cape Fear Valley Health CEO Michael Nagowski. "In 64 out of 100 counties, there isn't even a practicing child psychiatrist. While we know this building and these services will be a welcome resource in our community, we also believe the programs made possible by this facility will help ease the psychiatrist shortage in the state through our psychiatry residency and fellowship programs, which will train new behavioral health doctors right here in Cumberland County."
Psychiatrist Sree Jadapalle, M.D. will serve as the service director at the new facility and the fellowship program director for a new Child Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship that begins in the summer. 

Cape Fear Valley Health received accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for a new Child Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program. The two-year CAP fellowship has six positions available with three fellows added each year. This program is highly competitive for doctors who are looking for experience in this speciality. 

Jadapalle said the fellowship program helps provide psychiatric services to many community centers beyond Dorothea Dix Adolescent Care.
“With each graduating class, we will be sending more child and adolescent psychiatrists into the world, and many will likely stay and help the communities they’ve come to know as residents or fellows,” said Jadapalle.
"This is now the only adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit, not only for Cumberland County, but also for surrounding communities like Bladen County, Hoke County, and Fort Bragg," Jadapalle added. “We have pediatric patients waiting in our emergency room right now who have been waiting for a week or more for a bed to open up at such a facility. When this unit opens, it will alleviate these frustrating wait times for adolescents and their families and offer them the mental health help they need on time. After patients are discharged from the Dorothea Dix Adolescent Care Unit, we will be able to provide continuity of care services through our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Clinic."

Construction on the new unit began in November 2020 and was possible through $4M in funding from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and contributions from the community.

"Over $71,000 has been contributed by individuals and corporations, which will amplify state funding and provide necessary program support, appropriate furnishings, clinical equipment, and recreational services for adolescents in our community needing inpatient behavioral health services," said Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation Vice President Sabrina Brooks. "We are grateful to these community donors for their generosity and support. Giving opportunities to support the unit are still available through Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation."

In attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony was Deepa Avula, the director of the NC DHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
“One of the things we have done at our department, is we have named behavioral health a top priority,” Avula said. “It’s important to recognize the value of mental health and resilience in investing in that in our young people. With unprecedented stressors that have been put on them and an investment like this is really an investment in their future and investment in the county's future and an investment in the state's future.”
Some unprecedented stressors placed on young adults in the past two years include grief, trauma, isolation, loneliness, unemployment, financial instability, and more that contribute to negative mental health outcomes, Avula explained at the ceremony.

Many children with mental health issues seek help within emergency departments at hospitals. Avula stated that 31 percent of visits in the emergency department are for children with mental health needs.
“Now more than ever, we need greater access to treatment for children and adolescents. The past twoyears of the pandemic have been difficult causing an increase of at least 30% in children, adolescents needing psychiatric or other mental health,” said Dr. Kenneth Fleishman, chief of psychiatry and the medical director for the department of psychiatry and behavioral health care and an assistant psychiatry professor at Campbell University. “This type of project is what makes the Cape Fear Valley Hospital special. I want to thank all of you who made it possible for coming here and celebrating the opening of this unit because we couldn't have done it without you.”
The facility represents what matters to the community, the families, and the children. The future for the youth of Cumberland and surrounding Counties with mental health needs is promising, as this new addition to the area looks to help those in need.

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