More than 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To meet a growing community need, Munster-based Powers Health is expanding behavioral health services at St. Catherine Hospital. Based in East Chicago, St. Catherine Hospital has opened a new, larger inpatient behavioral health unit.

The fourth floor of St. Catherine Hospital features 24 additional inpatient beds for behavioral health services, bringing the total to 64 beds. Adult patients diagnosed with behavioral health conditions may be referred to the unit.

“We are thrilled to open this new space for our patients,” said Zachary Glassburn, St. Catherine Hospital director of behavioral health services, in a press release. “The new unit offers a soothing environment, but it truly is the people who provide the care that makes it what it is – a place of healing.”

Inpatient behavioral health hospitalization involves stabilizing the crisis that led to treatment. It includes developing a treatment plan and coordinating care to provide 24-hour nursing care. Doctors determine levels of medication and educate patients about how to take their medicine. Therapeutic recreation is provided. 

Hospitals, emergency rooms and physician offices refer patients to the inpatient program.

St. Catherine Hospital also features a new space for the intensive outpatient program on the fourth floor of the hospital. This program is for adults who are experiencing behavioral or emotional difficulties but don't require intense levels of psychiatric care. The program lasts an average of four to six weeks.

St. Catherine Hospital is part of Powers Health. Powers Health is a nonprofit health care system serving Northwest Indiana. Community Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital, St. Mary Medical Center and Powers Health Rehabilitation Center comprise the health care network.