EmPATH pioneer visits Emplify in La Crosse to promote treatment program for patients with mental health issues

The Emplify health system in La Crosse just recently announced a program called EmPATH, aimed at providing emergency treatment for mental health problems. On Friday, Emplify hosted a doctor credited with originating EmPATH.

Dr. Scott Zeller visited the Gundersen campus in La Crosse, to talk about the approach to dealing with behavioral emergencies in a short time, without a patient having to stay at a hospital.

Zeller says more than 100 EmPATH programs have been started around the world, with Emplify in La Crosse being the first to offer the faster treatment program in Wisconsin. He developed the program while serving as medical director of a psychiatric emergency center in California, where he felt that too many patients were being required to stay in hospital rooms for days, after coming to an emergency room for treatment of a mental health condition.

Zeller says many patients who have been treated through the EmPATH program had positive feelings about the process, even if the situation started with police being called to respond to a mental health problem.

A facility specifically for the EmPATH program is now being built on the main Gundersen campus.