Psychiatric emergency care is available when our community needs it most.
When a mental health issue causes an individual to act in a way that places himself or others in danger, it’s likely to be a psychiatric emergency. These emergencies form a broad category that can include situations such as threatening suicide, threatening another person or experiencing acute post-traumatic stress.
In time of a psychiatric crisis, a professional assessment and a connection to appropriate services may be needed. The Psychiatric Emergency Screening Service (PESS) at Clara Maass Medical Center (CMMC), the designated provider of immediate psychiatric care for the western portion of Essex County, is available to help.
Although the first instinct for many people facing a psychiatric crisis is to go to the nearest Emergency Department, other resources in the community are better suited to provide comprehensive help for behavioral health issues. “We may have a family member calling about a loved one, a mental health clinic calling about a patient, or the police may call PESS when they see someone they know behaving erratically,” says Joe Cuffari, LPC, Assistant Vice President of Psychiatric Emergency Services at RWJBarnabas Health. The PESS unit is based in the CMMC Emergency Department, where screeners respond to calls through a 24-hour hotline.
Reaching out
The program, which marked its one-year anniversary at CMMC last November, is extending its reach. “We want to help people avoid coming to the hospital,” says Tess Medina, MAS, BSN, RN, BC, Assistant Vice President, Behavioral Health Services at CMMC. “We have a mobile outreach team, including staff located at the West Orange Police substation three days a week.”
The mobile response team travels to patients to provide assessments at their home, school or any other location throughout the 20 municipalities where the PESS unit provides services. The team also provides outreach to universities, correctional facilities, nursing
homes and nearby hospitals. “What’s amazing is how we’ve been able to increase our presence in the community—we’ve nearly tripled the number of mobile screenings that we do,” says Wanda Maragni, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Director of PESS. “Our goal is to take care of people in the communities we serve so they can be evaluated quickly and receive the care that they need.”
Where We Serve:
Clara Maass Medical Center PESS covers these municipalities:
• Belleville
• Bloomfield
• Caldwell
• Cedar Grove
• East Orange
• Essex Fells
• Fairfield
• Glen Ridge
• Livingston
• Maplewood
• Millburn
• Montclair
• North Caldwell
• Nutley
• Orange
• Roseland
• South Orange
• Verona
• West Caldwell
• West Orange
If you or someone you know is experiencing a psychiatric emergency, you can call the PESS crisis intervention hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 973.844.HELP (4357). To learn more or to make an appointment at any of the RWJBarnabas Health Behavioral Health Network sites throughout NJ, call the Network Access Center at 800.300.0628.