PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Sue Wegener is representing a group of nurses and hospital workers who all were employed at HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital's behavioral health facility in New Port Richey.
“I have been a behavioral nurse for 33 years. I can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Wegener.
They treated people in need with many different mental health issues.
“Whether it’s depression, suicidality, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder. The whole game,” said Wegener.
But now, the facility that had once been able to treat more than 50 patients at a time is closed for good.
“I’m heartbroken. As nurses, we have the capacity to be able to find jobs. But our healthcare patients don’t have that capacity in the community where they live,” said Wegener.
HCA sent us a statement saying they’ve seen a steady decline in behavioral health patients at the New Port Richey facility and were only at a third of capacity.
That’s why they said they transitioned mental health services to other HCA hospitals in West Tampa and Largo, both less than an hour away.
The hospital said workers are being given the opportunity to transfer.
“I don’t have a long elegant speech. But what I can tell you is without this place being open, you are going to have people die,” said Debbie Proulx, Executive Director of Pasco's National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Proulx said with the HCA facility gone, mental health patients are having to wait months to get into a facility.
“Local facilities will tell you they can get them in the same day or the next day. That is true. They get them in. They do an assessment. They don’t have enough people to treat them for the long-term health care needs that they need.”
Natasha Pierre has been dealing with her own mental health issues for years.
She now councils others and said she was shocked to see HCA’s statement that this facility didn’t have enough patients to stay open.
“For me, this is akin to closing a school or closing a firehouse. We need this right now,” said Pierre.
She said closing one mental health facility will have many effects, including overloading other hospitals and forcing people to travel long distances to get help.
“There’s a lot that goes on in these big decisions that happens in boardrooms that is often far away from the people that are impacted.”
We also checked with the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network.
They told us Florida is seeing a fast-growing need for more behavioral health facilities, particularly with inpatient beds.
And they are often forced to send patients out of the area due to a lack of beds.
Full statement from HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital:
HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital has experienced a steady decline in behavioral health patients. Before HCA Florida Trinity West’s suspension of services due to the hurricane, the hospital’s average daily patient census was only a third of its capacity. The decision therefore was made to transition mental health services at HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital to sister hospitals HCA Florida West Tampa and HCA Florida Largo West Hospitals, both facilities with robust behavioral health services.
Both HCA Florida West Tampa Hospital and HCA Florida Largo West Hospital, situated south of Clearwater, are located well under a one-hour drive from HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital.
Colleagues are being given the opportunity to transfer to other HCA Healthcare facilities.
