Page 12 - GBGH Foundation - Mental Health Case For Support

MENTAL HEALTH IS HEALTH.
No one should have to wait days
or weeks for the care they need.
It’s heartbreaking.
“Nurses have come to me in tears because they feel hopeless in being able to
support patients that languish for days in our ED waiting for a mental health
bed. Some of these patients are children. People come to the hospital to get
care and when we are unable to provide that care, it is heartbreaking for our
patients, their families and our teams.
Our community needs and deserves access to equitable care. We want better
care for our patients and the community. By supporting this campaign, you are
helping us reach that goal.”
– LINDA GRAVEL, VP OF CLINICAL SERVICES AND CHIEF NURSING EXECUTIVE
DID Y OU KNO W
Because of the lack of beds for mental health patients GBGH
often admits patients to our acute area to free up space within
the emergency department. Over 30% of those patients admitted
to an acute bed while waiting for a mental health bed are waiting
over three days before they could begin their mental health healing
journey.
Having a program at GBGH would allow us to address any acute
medical issues at the same time as helping patients through their
mental health challenges.
12 • MENTAL HEALTH CASE FOR SUPPORT
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
• About half of adults will have a mental health issue at some point in
their lives. The good news is we are talking about it more than ever.
• Young people aged 15 to 24 are more likely to experience mental
illness and/or substance use disorders than any other age group.
• 39% of Ontario high-school students indicate a moderate-to-serious
level of psychological distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression).
A further 17% indicate a serious level of psychological distress.
• Mental illness and substance use disorders are leading causes of
disability in Canada.
• About 4,000 Canadians per year die by suicide – an average of almost
11 suicides a day. It affects people of all ages and backgrounds.
• The stigma is real. People are nearly three times less likely to want
to disclose a mental illness like depression than a physical one like
cancer*.
• Things that can impact mental well-being include job stress, money
challenges, discrimination, care giver burdens, the loss of a loved one
and other tragic circumstances.
• The presence of a mental illness contributes to the worsening of other
conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy
and cancer treatments.
• Rates of tobacco use, alcohol abuse and illicit drug problems increase
in the presence of mental illness.
• Children of affluence are generally presumed to be at low risk.
However, recent studies have suggested problems in several
domains—notably, substance use, anxiety, and depression—and two
sets of potential causes including: pressures to achieve and isolation
from parents.
• Pre COVID nearly 2.3 million Canadians said they had unmet or partially
unmet mental health needs. Over ¾ of those mentioned the largest
two barriers being not knowing where to get help and help not being
readily available as the reason they did not get care. GBGH wants to
change this for our local community. Our doors are open 24/7 to care
and we want to ensure every resident knows in their time of crisis they
can come here.
*https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real/mental-health-statistics