LOCAL

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff visits Nationwide Children's to talk youth mental health

Titus Wu
The Columbus Dispatch

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, visited Nationwide Children's Hospital Wednesday to push President Joe Biden's focus on mental health of youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourselves," said Emhoff to health care workers, as he toured the hospital's behavioral health treatment and research center, the largest on a pediatric campus in the United States. 

Emhoff talked with behavioral health workers about important mental health services and what it was like working in the pandemic. He connected with parents who worried over their children's mental health during COVID-19.

His visit comes as nationwide and in Ohio, providers for youth mental health services have seen increased demand as well as increased staffing shortages during the pandemic.

He was joined by Carole Johnson, administrator for the Health Resources and Services Administration, the agency overseeing grants and health programs for underserved communities, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine.

The mental health of young people was impacted under the pandemic. Late last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital Association and others declared a national state of emergency in children's mental health.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy had also issued an advisory on the issue in December.

In Ohio, many schools had swung back and forth between in-person and remote learning, and the virus's economic fallout has affected many low-income households.

All this has coincided with severe staffing shortages hitting the state's behavioral health system. The Ohio Council of Behavioral  Health and Family Services Providers said in a December report that the system "is at its breaking point." 

Roughly 98% of providers surveyed in the state reported difficulty in hiring new staff and 88% had a hard time retaining workers, the report said. Vacancies have been left unfilled for up to 46 days or more.

Demand for youth health services has increased, but with limited staff, wait times for more than 60% of youth mental health service providers have increased.

Nationwide has not been immune to the resulting pressures, workers told Emhoff during his visit.

"This has been a stress on all of us," said Dr. Eric Butter, chief of the division of psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. "There hasn't been one decision over the last couple years that didn't involve COVID in some way."

The federal government is trying to combat staffing burnout. It recently provided $103 million in grants to help mental wellness with health care workers across the nation.

Nationwide received $2 million to train pediatricians and residents to "develop resiliency" and for workers to recognize the important of mental health themselves, Dr. John Mahan told Emoff.  

Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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