R.I. National Guard deployed to psychiatric hospital in Providence

PROVIDENCE – Sixty Rhode Island National Guard troops will mobilize to Butler Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in the city, as part of the state’s efforts to address the crisis in the state’s health care system.

The troops will help with tasks that don’t require a high-level medical education, like transportation and observation, Gen. Chris Callahan, the adjutant general and commanding general of the state National Guard, said at a news conference Wednesday.

That will allow other hospitals to send psychiatric patients who don’t have critical medical needs to Butler to help free up beds elsewhere in a system congested by staff shortages and a rise in COVID-19 cases, state officials said. The Guard started training this week and is expected to deploy there on Jan. 18.

Care New England said Butler Hospital would temporarily repurpose the Ray Hall Conference Center to serve as a 25-bed unit for low-acuity behavioral patients who are stuck in emergency departments around the state.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/12/metro/ri-national-guard-deployed-psychiatric-hospital-providence/