In announcing his family's $3 million "challenge gift" Monday to help Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas open a psychiatric unit, Nyle Maxwell said he hopes to not just improve access to care but also "destroy the stigma that families have been grappling with" when it comes to mental illness.
“We’re going to embark on a journey here shortly that will allow us to serve a lot more children a lot faster,” Maxwell said.
Dell Children's will use the $3 million to develop a 24-bed inpatient unit to provide comprehensive care to children with mental health needs, including those living with eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.
Nyle Maxwell announces his family's $3 million gift Monday, Jan. 30, to help build a mental health care unit at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin.[/caption]The addition will be called the Grace Grego Mental Health Unit at Dell Children's. It is named after Maxwell's mother, a longtime volunteer at the hospital.
The unit will also include an intensive outpatient program and the Texas Child Study Center, an outpatient clinic that will be run in partnership with The University of Texas, according to Seton Healthcare Family, which operates the children's hospital located in Austin's Mueller area.
The addition will allow Dell Children’s to offer pediatric, physical and mental health care services within one location, said Dr. Sonia Krishna, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Dell Children’s.
Krishna said statistics on the scope of mental illness among children and teens are "staggering." She cited data from Integral Care, which serves Austin and other Travis County communities, that lists suicide as the leading cause of death in young people ages 12-17.
In a news release, Seton cited statistics showing one in five kids deals with a mental illness any given year.
Some of the more common mental illnesses among children and teens include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Seton. Intellectual and developmental disabilities are also common.
Having better access to coordinated care is vital for children struggling with mental illness, said Kate Peoples, a graduate student at UT's School of Social Work who spoke during a news conference Monday at Dell Children's. Peoples, who is from Austin, shared her experience battling anorexia as a teenager.
She said her family struggled to find inpatient care after she was diagnosed when she was 15. Her illness eventually reached a crisis point, she said.
Peoples said she was fortunate to be able to find in-patient treatment options outside of Austin—her family traveled to Dallas, New Orleans and Miami seeking care—but she hopes a new psychiatric unit at Dell Children's will help other children living with mental illnesses receive care before their conditions worsen.
“My story is not necessarily unique, but it highlights the need for mental health services for children in Austin,” said Peoples, who is on track to earn her master's degree from UT in August.
“We’re going to embark on a journey here shortly that will allow us to serve a lot more children a lot faster.”
— Nyle Maxwell of the Maxwell family
Seton expects construction to begin on the new unit within the next six months. Completion is anticipated in spring 2018, said Kristi Katz, executive director of Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas Foundation, a fundraising arm for the hospital.
Katz said the $3 million gift from the Maxwell family will need to be matched with additional donations and fundraising. The total cost of construction is expected to be about $7 million, she said.
(The Northwest Austin Circle of Friends hosts a fundraising event March 4 to support Dell Children's. More information is online at www.cheersforchildrenatx.com.)
The new unit will be located on Dell Children's second floor. Much of the construction will involve remodeling existing inpatient rooms to better suit psychiatric care, Katz said.
Addressing mental health care needs will be a priority for Texas' 85th Legislature this year, according to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, called this past fall for a new focus on mental health care in Central Texas and proposed an overhaul of Austin State Hospital's Guadalupe Street campus into a new psychiatric care facility.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of the Grace Grego Mental Health Unit at Dell Children's.
