It’s the quiet crisis in the midst of the global pandemic: America is experiencing an emergency in youth mental health and supporters of the El Rio Foundation are taking action.
The Foundation has launched the “Mission of Hope” Campaign and seeks to raise $400,000 to fund a new Youth Mental Health Pilot Program in 2022.
“When we looked at the data surrounding youth mental health, this cause became very compelling to us. The impact of COVID is obvious for adults who have lost jobs and businesses, but you take it down to the level of children and they are struggling ... suicide attempts have increased nationwide. In Pima County alone, last year there were 15 youth suicides. If unaddressed, we are concerned that the numbers will continue to rise.
“We also found that if you have a youngster who is having problems, there are limited services and often waiting lists to access them. It became obvious that El Rio needed to get involved and launch services to deal specifically with youth needing behavioral health services,” said Rick Gregson, a long-time board member of the El Rio Foundation. He is co-chair with his wife, Lynn, of the El Rio Foundation’s 20th Anniversary.
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The board’s conviction was bolstered by actual El Rio pediatric patient data: Pediatric teams began screening children ages 12-plus for depression in 2019, and 22 percent of those screened positive.
Additionally, a recent report in the journal Pediatrics found that for every four COVID-19 deaths, one child was left without a parent or grandparent — and potential caregiver.
“This highlights the systemic changes that need to be made in this country to support the mental health of children and youth coming through the pandemic and potentially going through their childhoods with the profound loss of parents, grandparents or extended family members,” said Brenda Goldsmith, executive director of El Rio.
The new Pilot Project will utilize a team approach, including a child psychiatrist, two behavioral health professionals, a registered nurse, two case managers, a family support specialist and a program manager. The program seeks to serve 200 to 300 youth within the first year, with plans for future expansion. Currently, El Rio offers adult behavioral health services.
“The health care system in the United States has many fractures and here at El Rio, providing an integrated model of medical, dental, behavioral health and ancillary services on one campus reduces barriers to care and creates a more comprehensive holistic approach for high quality, compassionate, cost-effective health care,” said Goldsmith.
For the past 20 years, El Rio Foundation has been dedicated to removing barriers to health care for uninsured and insured patients alike, according to Gregson.
He hopes that the public can see the value of continued support as the foundation tackles the problem of youth mental health.
“We have raised over $30 million for El Rio patient services, innovative programs, capital needs and endowments since 2001. El Rio is a Tucson organization, not a branch of a national organization, and every dollar of that $30 million stays here. These dollars are life-changing and life-saving and there are so many people walking around that prove that every day,” Gregson said.
