Cheryl Morley championed access to
behavioral health care
ST.
LOUIS, June 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As she steps
down from years of service to Mercy's board of directors, most
recently as chair of its community committee, Mercy is taking
several steps to recognize Cheryl
Morley and ensure her legacy of giving lives on.
Morley has long-held, equally strong passions for health care
and helping people. As a board member, she has been a staunch
advocate for improving access to behavioral health care in
particular.
"Cheryl has always made behavioral health, and access to it, a
top priority. It's just not that common that someone prioritizes
behavioral health care," said Patty
Morrow, Mercy's vice president of behavioral health
operations. "Whether that's because of a stigma around behavioral
health, challenges with provider shortages or another reason, if
someone champions this issue, it's usually because their heart is
in the right place, and they really, truly care about helping
people. I've always really admired that about Cheryl, and she will
be deeply missed."
As a recognition of her efforts throughout her many years of
service, Mercy's Behavioral Health Regional Access Center currently
located at Mercy Hospital St. Louis will be relocated to Mercy's
Virtual Care Center and named in Morley's honor.
"Behavior health needs are immense in the world today and
certainly across the communities in which Mercy serves. There are
many challenges in addressing behavior health given the broad range
of needs. Whether the diagnosis is depression, anxiety or a complex
dissociative disorder, Mercy is addressing mental health as a key
component of total wellness. I am thankful and proud to have been a
part of this incredible and caring organization," said Morley.
The behavioral center provides centralized bed placement
coordination, insurance precertification and authorization, among
other functions, across all of Mercy's footprint, serving all
virtually with 24/7 access to care. The hub, piloted in 2018, has
helped Mercy improve access for patients in need of psychiatric
hospitalization and outpatient programs. The center also offers
virtual mental health evaluation services for emergency departments
across all of Mercy.
"We have been blessed with board members who have the kind of
dedication Cheryl has," said Steve
Mackin, Mercy's president and chief executive officer. "We
are also incredibly grateful to have had Cheryl serving Mercy's
board of directors as long as we have. She would probably tell you
it was nothing remarkable, just what needed to be done, but the
impact her service has had and will continue to have on Mercy's
mission for many years to come is truly impossible to
quantify."
In addition to naming Mercy's behavioral care hub in recognition
of Morley's service, Mercy is also providing funding in her name
that will create a permanent, full-time intake caseworker position
to administer Mercy's system-wide co-worker crisis fund, which
exists to assist co-workers and their families experiencing
financial hardship and in times of need, enabling Mercy to provide
more real-time support to all co-workers.
In her work on Mercy's community committee, Morley always
strived to find ways Mercy could better serve Mercy communities,
with particular regard to those with the least financial means. She
led a charge to try and find ways that needs could be met before
the point of requiring charity care or financial assistance, such
as proactively providing vaccinations and other preventative care
to people who struggled to afford it.
Later this year, Mercy will host Morley and guests at a
reception and blessing, where Mercy's Behavioral Health Regional
Access Center will be unveiled at its new location and named in
Morley's honor.
Mercy, one of the 20 largest U.S. health systems and
named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient
experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally
recognized care and one of the nation's largest and
highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and
cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state
health care system including more than 50 acute
care and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab)
hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging
centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 900 physician
practice locations and outpatient facilities,
more than 4,500 physicians and advanced
practitioners and 50,000 co-workers serving
patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics,
outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2023 alone,
Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and
other community benefits, including traditional charity care and
unreimbursed Medicaid.
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SOURCE Mercy