SUN Behavioral Health meets unmet needs in Sussex

Four years after a meeting with three Sussex County hospital CEOs, SUN Behavioral Health officials have opened the doors to a new Georgetown facility.

SUN (Solving Unmet Needs) Behavioral Health President and CEO Steve Page recalled how that meeting transpired during the Oct. 1 grand opening of the facility. He said Beebe Healthcare CEO Jeff Fried approached a SUN Behavioral Health board member with what he called a behavioral health crisis in Sussex County. “If I get the other CEOs, will you listen to us?” he asked. That set the wheels in motion.

With limited outpatient and inpatient services available, most Sussex residents with mental health and substance-use issues were forced to travel to upstate or out-of-state facilities. Page said it didn't take long for a groundswell of community support. “We can't do this by ourselves,” he said. “From a vision to reality – this is extraordinary.”

Community liaison Stephen Cooper said the hospital will offer services in phases to different population groups over the next few months, starting with comprehensive inpatient, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient services that will eventually be available to adults, children, adolescents and seniors. High on the list of demands from the public, he said, are services for adolescents, which are scheduled to begin for teenagers 13 and older at the start of 2019.

The 90-bed, 90,000-square-foot facility opened its doors for patients at noon, Oct. 2, and will remain open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Those who spoke during the grand opening and ribbon cutting agreed people with mental health and substance-abuse needs in Sussex County have been underserved for decades, and it's severely been exacerbated by the growing opioid epidemic. “We are losing a Delawarean a day to the opioid crisis,” said Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, head of the state's Behavioral Health Consortium. “This is a new opportunity for Sussex County. Residents will not have to drive two hours. They have a place to come.”

She said it's imperative to keep an adolescent program on the agenda and implement it in the near future. “This has been a long time coming,” said Gov. John Carney. “Opioid deaths have savaged communities and families in Delaware. This facility meets an incredibly unmet need.”

Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, said the location of the hospital along Route 9 is set in a complex that includes a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic, La Red Health Center and a Beebe Healthcare facility, all across from Delaware Technical Community College. “This facility will help patients and help families who support them. They can stay here and not have to go upstate,” said Georgetown Mayor Bill West.

“We are glad to see this investment in Sussex County,” said Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown.

Amy Wood, CEO of SUN Behavioral Delaware, will head the Georgetown psychiatric hospital and its staff of 150. Dr. Jose R. Capiro is executive medical director.

THE NUMBERS

345 Delaware residents died from opioid overdoses in 2016, an increase of 12 percent from 2015

43 million U.S. adults experience mental illness every year

21 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders at some point in their lives