By Nicholas Vetrisek
On Tuesday, San Diego County officials and the Tri-City Medical Center reached an agreement to reopen a psychiatric unit which was closed last year.
As part of the agreement, the inpatient psychiatric beds will be reopened while the County and Tri-City share the cost. This deal is incredibly important given the fact that without this unit, there is no emergency mental health care in coastal North County.
Two local officials announced, “We are pleased that an agreement has been reached between the County of San Diego and Tri-City Medical Center to restore inpatient psychiatric services on their campus . . . While there is still a lot of work left to do in order to build a regional, integrated, coordinated and effective behavioral health care system in San Diego, this action represents a step forward.”
The deal still needs to be approved by the County Board of Supervisors and the Tri-City Healthcare District Board of Directors, but progress is being made. This is the first step to giving mentally ill people in coastal North County the treatment they need.
