From Staff Reports

Addressing Mission Health’s Behavioral Health Services and the planned opening this fall of Sweeten Creek Mental Health & Wellness Center, Melina Arrowood was the second  (and last) speaker at the June 2 breakfast meeting of the Asheville-based Council of Independent Owners at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

Arrowood is the chief operating officer of Behavioral Health Services for Mission Heath System.

The first speaker was her colleague, Greg Lowe, president of HCA Healthcare’s North Carolina Division. (A story on Lowe’s address begins on Page A1.) 

As for the new facility, Arrowood said, “We will have an open house in July... Unlike Mission Hospital, you can walk through it... Our team is made up of amazing people who come to work every day with a difficult patient population” that it serves.

She spoke with enthusiasm about new electric convulsive therapy machines (called “ECTs”), noting that they will likely be useful to certain patients.

At that point, Arrowood acknowledged, “It’s hard to know what we do... It’s incredibly important work. The work we do is vital for our community. We are very excited to be expanding....”

At that point, she said, “In some places, we’re having staffing challenges. Just like across the state, there are many facilities where beds are closed because of staffing... Psychiatrists are almost impossible to find.. We have a lot of young people in our (Asheville) community who need psychiatric care....”

She spoke in detail about intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization, adding that “our community is desparate for adolescent services... There are too many suicides among our young people....

“We stay full now” at the present facility on St. Joseph’s campus across Biltmore Avenue from Mission Hospital in Asheville, Arrowood said. “I’m sure Sweeten Creek will be full soon.”

Mission Health broke ground  on the new behavioral health facility in November 2021, she said, noting that “anybody’s who built since 2020 knows that’s a major feat, with supply chain” and many other issues.

“Sweeten Creek is located 2.5 miles from Mission Hospital, and is not visible from Sweeten Creek Road. It is near SCR’s conjunction with Interstate 40.

“It is all on one level,” Arrowood said in concluding her address. “Every unit has its courtyard... We have massive TVs on the walls... We didn’t want things to be bland... We wanted things to be colorful and comfortable.”

During a question-and-answer session that followed Arrowood’s presentation, a man began by asking her to elaborate “about mental illness around Asheville.”

In Asheville, “we do take care of a large number of homeless people,” Arrowood replied. “They also ‘present’ when they’re in crisis. We stabilize what we can in the ER” (emergency room). If they need in-patient services, we take care of everybody, regardless of their ability to pay... As they (the homeless patients) get stabilized, we try to provide background services to get them back out in the community.”

A man asked Arrowood about her unit’s “130 behavioral techs and 120 registered nurses,” stating that “that ratio seemed a bit odd. Why?”

“We constantly require monitoring (of patients) by our behavioral techs to ensure safety,” Arrowood answered. “Behavioral health is different from regular healthcare... Our nursing ratios are very much in-line with what is seen across the country and across the street.”

She added that “the VA Hospital (serves veterans) and Broughton Hospital (in Morganton) have some beds. Broughton is full all of the time. Sometimes the VA is full.”

At that point, Greg Lowe, president of HCA Healthcare’s North Carolina Division, interjected,  “All of these hospitals (the Veterans Administration and Broughton) are sending patients to Mission,” so Mission is adding to its facilities in an effort to meet the demand.

CIBO member Mac Swicegood asked, “You’re really becoming the ‘clearing-house for the homeless?’”

In response, Lowe replied, “Not everyone downtown needs an inpatient stay.”

To that, Swicegood queried, “How are you dealing with that? You’re going to be a ‘clearing-house?’”

Lowe again fielded Swicegood’s remark, answering, “There are a lot individuals suffering from mental health problems, but many can be addressed on an outpatient basis. We really have to rely on those community resources, but right now, our community resources are not robust enough....”

Also addressing Swicegood’s question and comment, Arrowood replied, “It’s really no different than acute care. A patient — homeless or not — we admit those who require an in-patient level of care.”

A man then asked the two hospital officials to speak more about reruiting.

“We started recruiting several months ago” for the new behavioral health facility, Arrowood said. “People are excited about working in ‘psych.’ We’re not at 100 percent yet, but I’m excited about where we’re at... This buildng was constructed with many safety features — number one — to ‘de-escalate.’ We have personal alarm systems” and when one is triggered, “you get a swarm of people responding. There are a lot of features that are built-in, to deal with patients who are escalating out of the group.”

In a verbal salute to Arrowood, Lowe said, “She and her leadership team — it’s a healing environment like you’ve never seen.”

Then, Swicegood, who took over the emcee duties during the meeting from John Carroll, who had to leave early, ended the Q&A session, thanked the two speakers and said, “We will need to have them back! And now... let’s go to work!”