GREENVILLE, N.C. — A telemedicine program designed to improve the facilitation of mental health services in this state is receiving another financial boost.
What You Need To Know
A $3.2 million grant by United Health Foundation directly funds expansion of mental health services for children in North Carolina
Most of the state has a massive shortage of qualified professionals capable of handling behavioral needs for kids
It will place behavioral health workers in six chosen host sites for telehealth services inside community-based clinics
On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced a $3.2 million investment into the NC Statewide Telepsychiatry Program.
The goal is to expand mental health services for children in underserved regions.
A majority of the counties in the state have a major shortage of professionals trained to provide mental health services.
The three-year grant is provided by the United Health Foundation. This money will directly fund the NC-STeP program housed on the East Carolina University campus.
The hope is that the multi-million-dollar infusion will increase access to telehealth services in community clinics where there have been none in the past.
“There are going to be people’s lives improved and people’s lives saved because of it,” Cooper said to the crowd at the ECU Heart Institute.
The founder of the NC-STeP program said it was specifically created to reduce the number of psychiatric hospitalizations in 2012. He is pleased the efforts have broadened to include better local support for families and providers.
“Our goal is to basically create a prototype or a model for how we can take care of the children who are so underserved,” Dr. Sy Saeed said. “Our goal is to have the psychiatrist as close in physical proximity to the patient as possible.”
Another component of the endeavor is to have a child therapist embedded in the clinic who can attend to a young person’s needs.
“From a child standpoint, nothing really changes during their pediatric visits, but when they go in the clinic if they have needs for mental health, through this team effort, we take care of that,” Saeed said.
Between now and March 31, a determination will be made for where six host sites will be throughout the state.
“Telepsychiatry just gives a tremendous advantage,” Dr. David Tayloe said.
Tayloe is a multi-generational pediatrician in eastern North Carolina based out of Goldsboro.
“We have nowhere near the mental health professionals, particularly in the rural parts of North Carolina, to meet the needs of these children,” Taylor said.
The former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics says even though he is a doctor, it doesn’t mean he has the training for mental health services.
“We just end up flapping in the breeze, because we just end up doing the best we can,” Tayloe said.
Which is where the grant comes into play. Saeed said putting telehealth services in already built community-based settings will streamline care for families.
He said part of the grant funding will be for developing a portal using artificial intelligence. The A.I. will make communication between health care systems better and generate a friendly nudge for a family's participation in their child’s medical care.
There will also be the creation of a first-person video game. The game will be a virtual reality simulation of real-life events and potential behavioral health hurdles while connecting families to undisclosed peer-to-peer support.
“Their world is virtual reality, TikToks. That’s why we are building this virtual reality program. That’s why we are building this A.I. platform,” Saeed said.
The rollout of this expansion is projected to be July 1. A programmer for the video game said children will be consulted for the design of the 3D gaming experience.