COVID -19 Chronicle - Update December 2020

The coronavirus has taken a toll on all Mainers, and Northern Light Acadia Hospital understands the drastic implications of not just the physical health risks this virus poses, but the risks the pandemic brings upon the mental health and well-being of our staff and patients, especially children and adolescents.

The Stakes are High “What we know about kids is that they crave consistency and structure,” Chris McLaughlin, LCSW, Northern Light Acadia’s associate vice president of Community and Pediatric Services explains. “As you can imagine, the sudden loss of these things was devastating in early March.” Children of all ages experienced social isolation and uncertainty while the adults in their life also struggled with these same issues. Acadia provides essential services to Maine children including a hospital-based day treatment program, therapy, medication management, case management, and school-based services. With the pandemic however, it quickly became unsafe to treat patients at the hospital. Schools also turned to remote learning, leaving hundreds of Acadia’s pediatric patients in need of a way to continue their care in the safety of their own homes.

Experience Paved the Way “We had a lot of experience with telehealth prior to the pandemic,” explains Scott Oxley, president of Northern Light Acadia. “We support 17 emergency departments with our tele- psych consult services in addition to having a presence in 44 primary care practices across Maine.” This experience allowed the hospital to quickly expand that technology use to other service lines, and within weeks, Acadia offered nearly 100% of its outpatient services through telehealth with minimal disruption to patient care. “This was a huge undertaking and a true testament to the dedication of our staff,” Scott emphasizes. “We were able to continue to offer our structured programming and quality care at a time when families needed us most.”

Inspiring Outcomes “If we hadn’t made this a convenient, excellent experience for the patient, they would not have engaged at such high rates and received the care they need,” Scott explains referring to telehealth. He adds that it takes an outstanding team effort to make it work well for patients. “What we’re seeing consistently is that the patient satisfaction rate for telehealth treatment is more than 80%.” Chris is also seeing patient “no-show” rates of appointments on a steady decline as transportation and family schedules are no longer the barriers they once were. Acadia’s quality reports are also showing early signs of improved outcomes. Leadership teams are looking closely at data to see if there is a direct correlation to these improvements and its expanded use of telehealth services.

Acadia continues their work to meet the high demand for its pediatric services with an emphasis on early intervention programs. Program leaders are actively recruiting skilled clinicians to expand its presence in schools and are even hiring out of state to address the growing need for telehealth services. The pandemic forced all hospitals to rethink healthcare delivery, but it was Acadia’s innovative and passionate team members that successfully stood up the future of behavioral healthcare in Maine and secured the ongoing delivery of critical services in a convenient and effective manner.

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