As much as any provider within the state’s strained mental health system, the staff at the Brattleboro Retreat are attuned to the fact that every day Vermonters in crisis wait for care in emergency departments across the state.
That’s why they are pushing to get back to pre-COVID-19 levels of inpatient beds as quickly as possible, and why they just launched a new ambulance transport service pilot program through a contract with Rescue Inc.
“The Retreat will be over that 100-bed mark here in 60 days,” said Brattleboro Retreat Vice President Erik Rosenbauer. “That is what the planning is, and that is why all these other initiatives are underway.”
Getting back to 100 beds would be an increase of 16 beds over what the state’s largest provider of inpatient mental health services has had available in recent days, Rosenbauer said.