A year after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., healthcare providers are slowly restoring service capacities lost during the crisis. One such example is Valleywise Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Due to staffing shortages related to COVID-19, the center had to reduce its psychiatric services. However, they are now working to reopen 15 inpatient beds to replenish their mental health care capacity.
Valleywise Health, formerly known as Maricopa Integrated Health System, is Phoenix’s safety net health care system and the largest provider of court-ordered inpatient behavioral health care in Arizona. Reopening a small number of beds can make a significant difference, according to the health system’s leaders. The next step involves reopening three wings in Phoenix’s Maryvale neighborhood, which had to close in 2022 due to a lack of mental health professionals.
Valleywise Health is currently training new psychiatrists and actively recruiting and hiring psychiatric nurses, technicians, and other staff members to make this reopening possible. If everything goes as planned, these units will reopen over the next 12-18 months to provide mental health services to the people of Phoenix.
