NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Announces Renovation and Expansion of Space for Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatry Emergency Program
The program, for patients up to age 18, is the only program of its kind in New York State, and one of very few in the country
Oct 24, 2022
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue announced the renovation and expansion of space for its Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CCPEP) to provide mental health care to young New Yorkers in a calm, comfortable environment. The expansion allows for additional space to triage incoming patients, increasing the number of interview rooms from one to four and providing a more secure registration area. The renovation includes a larger waiting area for patients and their families, and a Comfort Room for patient use. The Child and Adolescent Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency program, for patients up to age 18, is the only program of its kind in New York State and one of only very few in the United States, continuing Bellevue’s history as a pioneer in child and adolescent mental health.
“NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue has long been at the forefront of providing innovative and necessary services for New Yorkers who are struggling with mental illness,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “The expansion of the Children’s CPEP will ensure that our children and adolescents in crisis receive the urgent care and support they need, regardless of their ability to pay. This renovation is an example of our investment in the mental health of all New Yorkers.”
“The newly renovated Children’s CPEP provides a welcoming milieu of care designed to support and accommodate the special psychiatric needs of children and adolescents at a time when they most need it,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Chief Executive Officer William Hicks. “This program expansion demonstrates our full commitment to providing the best possible patient- and family-centered, evidence-based treatment for New Yorkers of all ages.”
“The Children’s CPEP is an integral part of the comprehensive care we provide to our young patients, from emergency services to inpatient and outpatient care, and connecting children and teens to ongoing mental health services,” said J. Rebecca Weis, MD, Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. “We are seeing patients coming in at a higher level of crisis, consistent with the national emergency in child and adolescent mental health, as documented by the Surgeon General and leading experts in pediatric health. This investment in the Children’s CPEP represents our public hospital system’s unwavering support for child and adolescent mental health.”
“The Children’s CPEP provides a clinically-supervised setting where children in crisis are able to stay, get care, and find ways to cope with the stressors they are facing,” said Annie S. Li, MD, Director of the Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. “The renovation of the Children’s CPEP allows our providers to care for our young patients in a calm, peaceful environment that promotes healing.”
The Children’s CPEP received 2093 patient visits during calendar year 2021. The state-certified program includes an evaluation unit, a 6-bed extended observation unit, an interim crisis clinic, and access to mobile crisis services. The program is staffed 24-hours a day by child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and nurses trained to stabilize children in crisis and ensure they are connected to appropriate clinical services and support to give them the best chance for a fast and full recovery.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offers inpatient care for up to 45 children and adolescents through age 18. Outpatient services include a child and adolescent mental health clinic licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health, continuing day treatment program for children and adolescents, integrated Mental Health Program in Pediatrics Ambulatory Care. The department’s emergency services include a home-based crisis intervention program, and a mental health team located at the Agency for Children’s Services Pre-Placement Center. Annually, we provide 10,000 child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient visits; over 3,000 Adolescent Day Hospital visits; and 350 inpatient admissions. Public School 35, a Special Education school serving psychiatrically ill children and adolescents, is located on-site at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and provides educational services to patients on our inpatient units, at the Adolescent Day Hospital, and in our Mental Health clinic.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue has been a pioneer in the field of child mental health for almost 100 years. In 1923, Bellevue opened the nation’s first children’s psychiatric inpatient service located in a general hospital, and followed this innovation in 1937 by opening the world’s first adolescent inpatient unit.
About NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is America’s oldest public hospital, established in 1736. Affiliated with the NYU School of Medicine, the 844-bed hospital is a major referral center for highly complex cases, with 6,000 employees including highly skilled, interdisciplinary clinical staff. It is a Level 1 Trauma Center and sees more than 110,000 emergency room visits and more than 444,000 outpatient visits annually. Clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Cardiovascular Services; Bariatric Surgery; Designated Regional Perinatal Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU); Children’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program; and Cancer Services. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/bellevue or find us on Twitter at @BellevueHosp.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.