Gold Beach, Ore.-based Curry Health Network recently disclosed a cost-reduction strategy that involves closing the "hold room" at Curry General Hospital, also in Gold Beach. According to the Curry Coastal Pilot, hospital officials were not warned of the impending closure.
A hold room is used to stabilize and evaluate mentally unstable patients who arrive at the hospital — those with Alzheimer's, dementia, mental illness or on drugs — to determine the best way to care for them. Patients might spend a few hours in the hold room, and in severe cases, they can be held there for several days, according to the report.
Ken Dukek, CEO of the nonprofit Curry County, Ore.-based Curry Community Health, which acts as the local health authority, said he was not notified until Dec. 4 that the hold room will be closed. Curry Community Health has integrated community service clinics in Port Orford, Brookings and Gold Beach, including in Curry General Hospital. Mr. Dukek said there is no other place to stabilize such patients, posing an issue for his organization and local law enforcement.
"There was no discussion; it was just a decision the hospital made," Mr. Dukek said, according to the report. "We're in shock. We were not very well prepared to deal with it."
However, Curry Health Network CEO Ginny Razo said she recently learned Curry General Hospital was no longer certified to have a hold room, according to the report.
"As we were moving through the licensing [procedure] for the ED, we found the [hold room] certificate had expired a long time ago, prior to me," Ms. Razo said, according to the report. "Our intent is to not recertify that room. We're working with Curry Community Health for an ER-to-ER transfer to an appropriate facility to care for a person's needs. We do not have the resources to transfer a psychiatric patient — or even to treat them."