More than 2,000 patients treated in 1st year of P.E.I.’s mental health and addictions ER [Video]

Prince Edward Island’s mental health and addictions emergency department is celebrating its first year of operation this week, though a planned short-stay unit won’t open until “a really robust and stable staffing model” is in place.

Launched last February, the specialized ER is in the same building as Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s ER in Charlottetown, but is a separate space where people in a mental health or addictions crisis can be treated. It’s staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rebecca Jesseman, executive director of the service, said more than 2,000 patients have used the department in its first year.

“That’s an indication of the fact that this is a service that was really needed on the Island,” she told CBC’s Island Morning. “Those are 2,000 people who are now waiting to be seen and supported outside the emergency department. So it’s really helping from the system level.”

The facility includes a …