New 24-Bed Behavioral Health Unit Plans Unveiled By Howard County Officials

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Patients experiencing a mental health crisis who arrive at the emergency room of Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center now will have a special place to receive the care they need.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball joined Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center President Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed Tuesday for a wall breaking ceremony to kick off construction of the medical center’s new 24-bed behavioral health unit. The medical center has five available beds in its current unit. The new unit is set to open in December of 2024.

“We must do more to support those who may be struggling in silence and that there is a dire need to invest in and expand our behavioral health infrastructure here in Howard County,” Ball said during the ceremony. “This investment will enable the hospital to proceed with a new 7,000-square-foot behavioral health unit with 24 beds. The new behavioral health unit will ease overcrowding in the hospital and ensure that more of our neighbors are able to receive timely and supportive care in an environment that supports them.”

The new unit will offer patient rooms suitable for all types of care and include common areas for group and individual therapy, as well as areas where patients’ families can visit. The new facility will alleviate pressure on the demand for beds in the emergency department, too, Ball noted.

From 2016 to 2019, mental health emergency department visits to Maryland hospitals increased roughly 30 percent and the Maryland Hospital Association reports that 18.3 percent of hospital visits in 2021 were for behavioral health, up from 10.5 percent in 2013. If the five beds typically occupied by behavioral health patients with greater than 24 hours of stay were used for emergency room patients with a five-hour stay, the hospital projects that about 20-25 more patients could be seen in a 24-hour period, officials shared.