San Diego will soon be home to the region’s first pediatric psychiatric emergency department.
Rady Children’s Hospital and the David C. Copley Foundation announced a $5 million grant will fund a new emergency department that will work alongside the hospital.
The center will provide Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services inpatient and outpatient care for children suffering from conditions like depression, anxiety, attention-deficit disorders, eating disorders and behavioral problems.
The Copley Psychiatric Emergency Department is projected to open in 2019.
San Diego teenagers suffer the highest rate of suicide in the state according to the foundation.
One of five children in the U.S. experiences a behavioral health disorder.
“That’s 190,000 children in San Diego alone,” Benjamin Maxwell, M.D., Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services at Rady Children’s said in a written news release. “Less than ten percent of these children receive any medical attention. This dedicated emergency department will assure that children in crisis have access to immediate care.”
