State leaders hope the facility will fill an important gap in Georgia when it comes to behavioral health care.

ATLANTA — On Monday, Grady Memorial Hospital will open the doors to a new type of patient care, with state leaders hoping the new ‘med-psych' unit will fill an important gap when it comes to mental health.

“It will be a 16-bed facility with capability to treat both medical needs and psychiatric needs, which will meet a great need that we see at our hospital,” Anne Hernandez, Grady’s VP of Behavioral Health, explained. “This unit will treat them holistically. The team is co-trained, medical and psychiatric, and so [patients] will have a shorter length of stay. We’ll have a more comprehensive treatment team and be able to meet those needs in one place.”

The facility, Hernandez explained, is the first of its kind in Georgia, and one of only a handful like it across the country. The unit is equipped like Grady’s other medical floors but also tailored to take into consideration the risk of those experiencing a mental health crisis, like weighted chairs, among the floor’s features.

“We consulted with a number of the other facilities in the nation to get advice from them on how to best implement, what kind of environment, that sort of thing,” Hernandez added. “So it's a small network, but I think it's going to grow.”

She said she’s already getting calls from neighboring states inquiring about the unit, which was made possible in part to state funding.

“The Department applauds the General Assembly and Governor Brian Kemp for having the foresight to dedicate funding in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget toward this innovative partnership with Grady Hospital,” a spokesperson from the Georgia Department Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, said in a statement.

“This partnership fills an important gap in Georgia’s safety net for behavioral health care and reinforces our shared commitment to strengthening the continuum of care for Georgians,” the statement continued in part. “DBHDD is grateful for our state leaders’ support as the Department continues to expand behavioral health care access to those in need.”

“I think it's an exciting day for the state, not just for Grady,” Hernandez reiterated. “Certainly a crown jewel for us to be able to offer this type of care.”