Early last week, Virginia’s public mental hospitals admitted 60 patients in 72 hours, crowding them to 97 percent of capacity with no beds available in two of the state’s nine psychiatric facilities of last resort.
The situation prompted a public plea in the Virginia Senate by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, whose family tragedy underscored the importance of state psychiatric beds when none is available elsewhere.
“We are in desperate straits!” Deeds told his colleagues on Thursday during a heated debate over a Senate budget proposal with little money to pay for its priorities.
