MUSC part of team bringing badly needed behavioral health hub to Florence

At a time when 1 in 5 U.S. adults deals with mental illness every year, and 1 in 6 kids ages 6 to 17 does the same, the announcement of a new behavioral health hub in Florence, South Carolina, comes as welcome news for a lot of people. The Medical University of South Carolina is working with other health care, state and local leaders to make it happen. Construction begins in 2024 on an MUSC-owned site on East Cedar Street.

MUSC President David Cole, M.D., outlined the scope of the problem. “At MUSC, our overarching mission is to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina. I would say that behavioral health, or lack thereof, intersects with every dimension of our lives. One does not have to look much further than your circle of family or friends to have a story, something horrible, because of a lack of accessible, compassionate, impactful behavioral health.”

The new facility in the heart of the Pee Dee region of the state will address that need. It will include: 

• Rapid access triage, which means figuring out what kind of care the patient needs.
• Telepsychiatry, which means using technology to communicate with patients who can’t be at the center in person.
• Twenty beds for patients in crisis who need to stay at the clinic to be stabilized.
• A 63-bed psychiatric unit for patients who need more acute care.
• Outpatient services.

“I think this provides basis for us to actually start putting out a fire and then start doing something on a larger scale to allow us to have a healthy society. But today is about more than merely vision. It's about teamwork. It's about core commitment. It's about all the partners putting their needs together for Florence and the Pee Dee region,” Cole said.

Others involved with the June 15 announcement included Gov. Henry McMaster; Robby Kerr, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; Rep. Murrell Smith Jr., speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives; Donna Isgett, president and CEO of McLeod Health; Teresa Myers Ervin, Florence mayor; and Fred Carter, president of Francis Marion University.

 

The state is investing up to $100 million in the project, and the City of Florence has committed to contributing $5 million. The center will be named after state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, who long promoted the need for such a facility in the Pee Dee. He died in 2021 at the age of 90.

While the current behavioral health system faces multiple challenges, including not enough providers to treat all of the people who need care, the governor pointed out that South Carolina has shown leadership in this area in the past. “We were the second state to have a state-supported mental institution. Virginia was the first. So we were right there.”

Smith, the House speaker, said the new effort will make history as well. “The Pee Dee area of South Carolina is probably one of areas that has one of the biggest gaps in behavioral health care in the state, and recognizing that, l moved this process forward. That’s what we're here for today.”

Carter, of Francis Marion University in Florence, said the Pee Dee region badly needs the new behavioral health hub to help right some wrongs. “In the mid-‘90s, we decided to deinstitutionalize mental health care by closing many of our residential centers in South Carolina and establishing regional outpatient and counseling centers across the state,” he said.

 

In doing so, leaders overestimated the benefits and underestimated the costs, Carter said. “We also didn't allow for the complex problems associated with identifying and educating rural patients and arranging for them to be transported to remote centers. Not treatment but for numerous problems.”

The new behavioral health hub will be part of the solution, Carter said.

Isgett of McLeod Health applauded the collaborative nature of the project. “It took something much bigger than McCloud Health. It took this state. It took the Department of Mental Health. It took the support of the legislature, and it took us getting out of our own way to do something that's better for the people of this community.”

Florence’s mayor thanked her fellow leaders for coming together as well. “I think one of the key things that you can see about Florence right now is how well we're working together. Now, collectively, we can take care of the total mental health of all our citizens – but not just here in the Pee Dee – but beyond today.”

Cole of MUSC said Florence and the Pee Dee are promoting innovative approaches to help families dealing with severe mental illness, substance abuse, abuse and other behavioral health concerns.“I'm willing to predict this hub will serve as a model that we can emulate and continue to build across different regions with partners across the state. This is something that every region, from my belief, is going to have to step up with its health care and its community – we serve the patients, the families, the citizens of South Carolina."