Nemours Children’s Behavioral Health Program
At Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, we care about every child's mental health. Recognizing the long-standing unmet need in pediatric behavioral health and the amplified emotional toll the past two years have had on our children, we have designated Nemours Children’s Pediatric Behavioral Health Program the beneficiary of our flagship fundraising event. This year’s Gala will be held on Saturday, September 17th, at the iconic Nemours Estate.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association recently declared a National State of Emergency regarding children’s mental health. In addition, the U.S. Surgeon General simultaneously issued an Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health that outlines the COVID-19 pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families. Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges were the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people.
The need for pediatric behavioral health services far outstrips the region’s current capacity. At Nemours Children’s, we see children and adolescents with severe depression, feelings of isolation, eating and mood disorders and suicidal ideation with overwhelming frequency. In 2021 our emergency department saw a nearly 100% increase in patients arriving with suicidal ideation. In response to the paucity of critical care, inpatient beds, and intensive outpatient treatment centers in Delaware and throughout the region, Nemours Children’s leadership commissioned a study to assess our organization's role in increasing our capacity to help.
Recently, we committed to expanding our Behavioral Health Program by initially creating a dedicated pod of exam and triage rooms in our emergency department, currently in the design phase, for children arriving in crisis. In addition, we will soon announce exciting plans for a comprehensive inpatient facility, intensive outpatient unit and a day treatment program that will be constructed on our Delaware campus.
We have identified the Gala as an ideal time to raise awareness and financial support for these critical needs. Rather than simply choosing a service to highlight for the evening, this year’s Gala will do more. We envision the launch of a movement related to the mental health of children and adolescents that will see, in the coming years, perhaps the most impactful expansion of our facilities since the opening of the original Alfred I. duPont Institute for Crippled Children in 1940.