More behavioral health care coming to Emplify Health

A new type of emergency health care will soon be made available in La Crosse.

This is emergency treatment for mental health problems, through a program called Empath, offered by Gundersen.

The goal of Empath is to provide treatment through the hospital emergency room and ideally send a patient home within 24 hours.

Josh Court is the director of Emplify, and he says the hospital may need to increase staff to meet the community needs through the new program.

Court says the creation of the new unit came partly in reaction to a recent hospital closing in Eau Claire.

It will be based in a facility now being constructed on the Gundersen campus.

The unit in La Crosse should be open early next year.