“It’s ok to not be ok!” Behavioral Tele-health Services available locally

On average, 21% of United States adults experienced mental illness in 2020, which computes to 52.9 million people, or one in five adults.  Likewise, 17% of youth, ages 6-17, experience mental illness, and farmers had the highest rate of suicide of all occupations.

New behavioral tele-health services are available at the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Medical Clinic in Waukon. The contracted tele-health company provides the clinic with its own medical provider who specializes in psychiatry and can help with medication management.

Patients do need to be referred to this new service by their Veterans Memorial Hospital medical clinic provider or the hospital’s ER. Anyone who has not yet established care at the clinic will need to do so in order to take advantage of this new service. All providers in the medical clinic are currently accepting new patients. Once care is established, the referral will be made and patients will be able to visit with this tele-health provider in the tele-health room.

Construction is nearly complete on the new Behavioral Health Clinic located inside the Veterans Memorial Hospital Clinic-Waukon. This area will have clinical rooms as well as a group conference room. Appointments will be completely confidential and will utilize the same entrance to the building as the medical clinic, meaning anyone in the waiting room will not know where the patient is being seen.

This new behavioral health clinic will also have a full-time in-house nurse practitioner, Tara Fink, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), this fall who specializes in behavioral health. The hospital intends to continue to expand in this behavioral line as needed due to the high need in the community.

“Everyone has mental health. We, as a community, must encourage, support and normalize mental health treatment, while embracing those who are suffering,” states Laura Sorenson, Social Worker at Veterans Memorial Hospital. “There is also a new national Suicide and Mental Health Crisis line. That number is 988. It’s free, confidential and available 24/7.

It is a very useful, effective and accessible tool we encourage those suffering to call. Remember, you are not alone.”

For questions on the behavioral tele-health services, call the VMH Medical Clinic-Waukon at 563-568-5530.