JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Close to one in five Duval County high school students attempted suicide, according to the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. That was before the pandemic. Since the arrival of COVID-19, there's been a drastic increase in pediatric emergency behavioral health admissions at Wolfson children's hospital.
"What we're seeing on the pediatric side is a 300% increase in pediatric emergency behavioral health admissions at Wolfson Children's. We have seen an uptick in young adults as well, as far as needing behavioral health care and mental health service," Dr. Terrie Andrews, Administrator of Behavioral Health at Baptist and Wolfson Children's Hospital said. "Our new patient appointments are up by 25%. Our call volume to our outpatient offices is up by 40%."
Sheryl Johnson lost her son, Alex Newman, in 2017. He was just 22. He died of a fentanyl overdose after battling depression and anxiety since he was a young teenager.
"The thing that was missing from our journey was some resources and some support system that helped us tie all the pieces together. He had different doctors who were doing different things, and none of them were really working together, and it just felt like there wasn't anyone looking after the whole picture. It was very, very frustrating for us," Johnson said.
When Newman turned 18 she says she was basically shut out from his care because he was an adult.
"Even though he was willing to have us help him, his medical providers weren't quite on the same page."
Johnson has been working to help secure funding for a new position at Baptist Behavioral Health, a care coordinator to help those between the age of 16 and 25 and their families. Thanks to the Jim Moran Foundation, donations to Alex's Dragonfly Endowment which she set up in her son's memory, will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $750,000 to fund the position.
"The care coordinator is a wraparound support system," Andrews said. "The idea behind the care coordinator is to be able to link the young adult to one provider to another, involve parents in their care as well as integrate into the school setting if need be to provide some accommodations and support, and really just be an overall coach and avid supporter so that this young adult can be very successful in life."
Andrews said they expect to fill the care coordinator position in March to help about 200 young adults in the first year of the program and reach 300 to 400 a year after that.
"I feel like we have given Alex his legacy," Johnson said. "So for me, it's just part of honoring everything about him and knowing that we're going to save a life, that we didn't have it, but other people will, and that's a huge accomplishment."
If you or your business would like to take advantage of the dollar-for-dollar match to help fund this position in perpetuity, donations can be made online or by mailing a check to Baptist Health Foundation, 841 Prudential Drive, Suite 1300, Jacksonville, FL 32207. For more information, you can call Baptist Health Foundation at (904) 202-3813.
In response to the spike in admissions, Wolfson Children's Hospital opened a 24/7 confidential helpline for kids and teens that is staffed by trained mental health experts. Call 904-202-7900 to reach the free helpline.