A CT hospital is opening a new unit designed to keep people out of the emergency room. Here’s why.

Hartford Courant – Friday, May 16, 2025
By Pamela McLoughlin

When Dr. Scott Zeller was head of the psychiatric emergency services at a California hospital 15 years ago he found that many psychiatric patients who came through the Emergency Department for care had to wait there to get a bed.

That in itself was, “Not great for behavioral health,” he said.

“It could make it worse,” because ED’s can be “scary and “claustrophobic,” he said.

He noticed many who started care in the ED didn’t have to be admitted if they received treatment.

So Zeller came up with an idea to start “from scratch” and create a system where a carefully designed, relaxing environment would become part of the treatment, along with a more immediate visit from a mental health professional who can set up a treatment plan that could include therapy, medication or both.

“The immediate access to treatment and the therapeutic environment are really a game changer,” Zeller said.

Often an overnight stay turns out to be unnecessary, Zeller said.

The result was designing an EmPATH Unit, which stands for Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment, and Healing.

Griffin Hospital in Derby will soon open an EmPATH unit following Zeller’s model that is under construction and will be a first in Connecticut, Griffin officials said. It is scheduled to open this summer or fall, officials said.

The unit will meet a growing demand for mental health crisis services, hospital officials said.

Zeller said there are more than 50 EmPATH units now in the United States, they are also being used in four other countries and they are hoping to have 100 in operation by 2027.

The unit was made possible by a $1 million gift from The Hewitt Foundation, according to the hospital.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has determined 41 percent of adults in Connecticut have experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression, while 121,000 adults are living with serious mental illness, according to the hospital. NAMI also found that 40,000 youth in Connecticut age 12–17 have depression and that 1.1 million people in Connecticut “live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals.”

“The Hewitt Foundation is honored to support Griffin’s pioneering efforts in behavioral health crisis care,” Harry P. DiAdamo, treasurer of the Hewitt Foundation said in a statement. They are looking for more donors.

“We encourage individuals, foundations, and businesses to join us in making this vision a reality and in ensuring a healthier future for those desperately in need of focused and compassionate help.”

With a shortage of behavioral health services statewide, individuals in emotional crisis are often brought to hospital emergency departments by crisis centers, law enforcement, and family members, according to the hospital. But emergency room are limited in their ability to provide the therapeutic care required, leaving many without the specialized support they need.

Behavioral and mental health also has been a concern for teachers for years.

“Over the past three years, mental health crisis cases at Griffin Hospital’s Emergency Department have surged by 50 percent, with one in seven patients seeking crisis care,” said Dr. Maria Dawe, chair of the Griffin Health Psychiatry Department, in a statement. “This influx not only overwhelms our capacity – it delays care for all patients.”

She said the EmPATH Unit will expand services for community members in psychiatric crisis with a “compassionate, dignified and patient-focused approach in a specially designed and reserved environment.”

The approach focuses on “improving and expediting positive outcomes,” Dawe said.

The unit, done in soft colors, offers a calming therapeutic space for patients in emotional crisis. Unlike traditional EDs, the unit prioritizes rapid, personalized care in a soothing 4,300 square foot environment with a large, open common space with high ceilings, natural light, exterior views and soothing décor, hospital officials said.

Zeller said even open spaces for walking/pacing, as provided in the unit, can help the patients immensely.

The unit will be staffed by psychiatrists, social workers, and trained nurses.

The EmPATH Unit will feature sensory rooms with patient-controlled lighting and music, which will act as a safe space to help regulate emotions, tables for socializing, nourishment station for snacks, shower room, and physician consultation and family rooms for visitors, an official said.

Similar pioneering units across the country have stabilized 75 percent of patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies in less than 24 hours, reducing the need for hospitalization, hospital officials said.

Similar units have also decreased crisis readmissions by 25 percent “while eliminating many of the traumatic aspects of traditional emergency psychiatric care.”

Connecticut health care professionals have said patients can wait days for treatment in emergency rooms across the state in an overcrowding crisis they have said was only growing worse.

Additional support is needed to fully realize Griffin’s “transformative vision,” hospital officials said in calling for donors.

Donors may have naming options, including the main treatment area and individual healing rooms, hospital officials said.

For more information visit griffinhealth.org/supportempath or contact Griffin Hospital Development Fund Executive Director Kristy Jelenik at kjelenik@griffinhealth.org or 203-732-7539.

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