Psychiatric Immediate Care Clinic

I had the nicest conversation the other day with Amber Burke from CHI Health's Psychiatric Immediate Care Clinic – aka PICC. Amber helped me to learn so much more about the PICC than I had previously known, and I wanted to share this information with you as soon as possible.

The Psychiatric Immediate Care Clinic, located on the CHI Health Immanuel campus, is yet another way CHI Health's behavioral care system can offer you or a loved one mental-health care services. According to Amber, the PICC provides services to children, adolescents, and adults within 24-48 hours. Services are available to those who are not already seeing a mental-health provider. The PICC has a full range of providers – psychiatrists, nurses and nurse practitioners, and therapists.

You might be wondering who should call the PICC and how to arrange for an appointment. Schools, PCPs, churches, ER staff, family members and individuals can call:

CHI Health's Information and Referral Line
(402) 717-HOPE (4673)
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday

The Information and Referral Line Specialist will gather some information from the caller, and help determine if the PICC is the right fit.  If necessary, the Referral Specialist will have other options to recommend.

Once an appointment with the PICC has been scheduled, the patient will come in for their appointment and speak with a mental-health therapist. Together, the patient and the therapist will determine what the next steps are, including whether or not a medication provider needs to see the patient.  If medications are indicated, the patient will see the medication provider that same day. And to provide further, continuing care, the patient will be set up with ongoing services for therapy and/or medication management at one of CHI Health's outpatient mental health clinics before they leave the PICC.

I encourage you to keep this information for yourself or share it with someone you care about. This is a really great community service for those not currently connected to mental-health care, and can make a big difference in the quality of life for those in need.