Chesapeake Regional Medical Center showed state officials progress on the region’s first psychiatric emergency room, which was partially funded with $3.7 million in state grants.
The Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, or CPEP, is part of Chesapeake Regional’s larger behavioral health program, which includes a 20-bed inpatient unit expected to open in fall 2025 and an outpatient program to open next year.
“When we needed outpatient services, Chesapeake stepped up, when we talked about having inpatient beds, Chesapeake stepped up,” Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services John Littel said.
“We're getting to a place … where the whole comprehensive slate of services are available to people in this region and are supported by the services that we have at the state going forward, so it's really a tremendous step forward.”
The $3.7 million comes from a $10 million state budget item for psychiatric health care. Chesapeake Regional had to submit an application to receive the money.
Chesapeake has already received $4.5 million from the state to support the inpatient and outpatient portions of its behavioral health program.
The new unit will be fit into existing space at the hospital. The psychiatric emergency room is currently under construction using space in the existing emergency department.
“This comprehensive psychiatric emergency department is going to be best in class,” said Nelson Smith, Virginia commissioner for behavioral health.
“This is going to help this region and it will allow law enforcement to transfer custody and that individual can get treatment right away.”
Chesapeake’s CPEP will have open space for patients as well as “safe rooms” that are more secure for patients who need more privacy. Patients will be able to get other kinds of medical care in the CPEP while they receive psychiatric treatment.
When Chesapeake submitted an application to the state to get approval for the inpatient portion of their new services, the hospital explained that patients seeking psychiatric treatment sometimes could sit in the emergency room for days waiting for space at facilities across the state.
In some cases, those patients require constant law enforcement supervision.
"It's not uncommon to see seven or eight police cars parked here on any given night, to have officers off the street, inside, providing their part of the behavioral health services," Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said.
"This CPEP is certainly going to go a long way to freeing up our officers to go back to their core services."
