North Texas CHC presents report on area behavioral health needs
Dr. Sushma Sharma
Seven North Texas counties have no psychiatric care beds and the number of behavioral care providers are below national and state levels, according to a report released Tuesday by the North Texas Community Health Collaborative (CHC). Before a crowded room of 70-plus attendees, the CHC presented findings from its Regional Behavioral Health Needs Assessment at the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation headquarters in Irving.
Details of the report covered the behavioral health needs of 16 counties including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant and Wise.
Additional findings included:
• 53 percent of North Texas hospital patient visits involved mental health issues;
• More female patients were diagnosed with mental health issues than male patients;
• Dallas and Tarrant counties maintained more than 60 percent of the total psychiatric care beds within the North Texas region.
“The report suggests North Texas must collaborate with local partners and faith-based organizations to address these disparities associated with behavioral health,” said Dr. Sushma Sharma, director of public and population health research at the DFWHC Foundation. “We must improve access to behavioral health care by integrating with primary and specialty care providers in the under-served rural areas of North Texas.”
Education and training in mental health first aid should also be provided to community health workers and residents within these counties, according to Dr. Sharma.
Coordinated by the DFWHC Foundation, the North Texas CHC represents 11 area health systems with a strategic goal of improving mental health services over the next three years.
The report will be made public in two weeks on the DFWHC Foundation’s Healthy North Texas website at http://www.healthyntexas.org/.
For information, please contact Dr. Sharma at ssharma@dfwhcfoundation.org.