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Waterfall forms co-op to expand mental health services

The World - 6/3/2022

Jun. 3—Just one day after Bay Area Hospital announced it was closing its behavioral health department, Waterfall Community Health Center said it was working to meet the growing need for mental health counseling in the community.

Lance Nelson, chief innovation office with Waterfall, said Waterfall was working to create a mental health cooperative model in an effort to coordinate care and hopefully bring new providers to the community.

Nelson said the announcement was not a direct result of Bay Area Hospital's decision, but when the hospital made its announcement, Waterfall sped up plans to unite mental health providers in the community.

"Although Waterfall has always been in the business of searching for ways to provide better mental health care for Coos County, recent decisions impacting the delivery of mental health services in our area of service have solidified our resolve to do more," Nelson said.

Waterfall is bringing on Dr. Robert Gerber, the current medical director of Bay Area Hospital's Acute Psychiatric Unit. Gerber will be transitioning to become the full-time psychiatry program manager at Waterfall, and his No. 1 priority will be to bring more psychiatric providers into the co-op.

"We had offered him a part-time contract two weeks ago," Nelson said. "He didn't learn about this until about two hours before the rest of us."

Nelson said when Gerber informed Waterfall that he would be available full-time, they quickly changed plans, hiring Gerber to lead the co-op effort.

"Our hope is that by centralizing as many providers as possible into a sort of 'mental health hub' will make services more efficient and increase provider satisfaction as they gain more colleagues to rely on for consultation and shared responsibilities," Gerber said.

Nelson said the co-op will bring mental health providers together, those who work with Waterfall and those who don't, to centralize services and community efforts.

"What the goal is, is we centralize services as much as possible," Nelson said. "We hire Waterfall employees, full-time, part-time, exempt and non-exempt. We're also offering space to people want to participate but want to keep their offices. You don't have to work for Waterfall full time, and you don't have to work for Waterfall at all."

Nelson said starting the co-op will open the door for new doctors, nurses and counselors to begin working in Coos Bay. He explained that in Gerber's role at the hospital, he had several young clinicians work with him. Many wanted to stay in Coos Bay, but the challenge and expense of opening a private practice forced most to leave for bigger cities, where they could join existing practices.

"Part of the thing we hear from psychiatry providers is in small communities like this, there's not a lot of opportunity to collaborate," Nelson said. "So if we create this central hub, that will be an opportunity to attract providers. We're trying to make it more attractive to people to come out."

Beginning July 1, the co-op will open at the Waterfall clinic in North Bend, although services will be available at all Waterfall offices.

"This is a short-term solution to give us about a year, and we'll probably need to expand," Nelson said. "The next 12 to 18 months, we'll keep this in our facility, but we'll need to find some office space."

Nelson said the effort to expand services in the community is due to a huge need for mental health services.

"The need has always been great," he said. "All the agencies that provide mental health services are always looking for providers because the need is more than we can handle."

On average, Nelson said it takes a new patient four to six weeks to see a therapist and four to six month to see a psychiatrist in Coos County.

"I have a need for four mental health counselors that I've had open for years," Nelson said. "I'm constantly recruiting providers. The need is great.

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