BC NA December 2020
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LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH<br />
PEDIATRIC MENTAL HEALTH CARE<br />
208<br />
The global pandemic has been hard<br />
on everyone. However, it’s been<br />
found than children and young<br />
adults in particular are bearing the<br />
brunt of its effects on mental health.<br />
A recent study found that, in the<br />
US, 7.1% of children between the<br />
ages of 3 and 17 are currently living<br />
with an anxiety diagnosis, and<br />
a further 3.2% are struggling with<br />
clinical depression. According<br />
to Roxane Cohen Silver, a social<br />
psychologist at UC Irvine, the<br />
elevated levels of stress following<br />
national crises can have long-lasting<br />
detrimental effects on the mental<br />
health of an entire generation.<br />
Now, she added in an interview<br />
with TIME, we can expect to see<br />
the coronavirus pandemic contribute<br />
to an even greater spike in mental<br />
health issues than following the<br />
September 11 attacks in 2001.<br />
“This is a difficult time for everyone,<br />
and that includes children,” said<br />
Dr. Melanie Melville, Medical Director<br />
of the Behavioral Health Service Line<br />
at Legacy in March of this year. “As<br />
we turn to social distancing to quell<br />
the spread of this unprecedented<br />
virus, we at Legacy want to<br />
proactively work to ensure that<br />
our most vulnerable populations<br />
have continued access to equitable<br />
care – including behavioral health<br />
care for children.”<br />
Since the early days of the US’<br />
Stay Home Order, Legacy has offered<br />
remote pediatric appointments<br />
to children up to the age of 17,<br />
including therapy appointments to<br />
assist pediatric patients with anxiety,<br />
depression, and behavioral problems.<br />
“The crux of our school-based<br />
health care program has always<br />
been to keep students healthy and<br />
relieve the burden of a clinic visit<br />
from the parents’ shoulders,” says<br />
Dr. Teandra Gordon, the Clinical<br />
Director of School Based Behavioral<br />
Health program at Legacy. “By now<br />
offering these services via telehealth<br />
while students don’t have access<br />
to their campus clinics, our goal is<br />
to continue that warm-hug feeling<br />
of wrap-around care that the<br />
students – and parents – have come<br />
to know and trust from Legacy.”<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2020</strong>
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