What’s agonizing about health care is, as others have said before, that it can be not so healthy and not so caring.

Central Oregon has a big gap in the care of children. There is no good place for children in a behavioral health crisis to go in Central Oregon to get the appropriate longer-term care they need.

Many children end up in the emergency department at one of the St. Charles hospitals. They can stay there for weeks. That’s far from what’s best for the children and their families.

“It’s really hard to see them have to wait for days, weeks, even up to a month in the emergency room,” Molly Wells Darling, senior behavioral health director of St. Charles Health System, told us. “There are no resources on this side of the mountains and there are limited resources in the state, frankly.”

There are no beds in Central Oregon for children in behavioral health crisis for briefer, respite care or longer-term, more acute care. There can be a wait for an opening at a facility on the other side of the Cascades. And, if a spot is open, it can spread a family terribly thin to have a child in crisis treated on the other side of the mountains.

St. Charles Health System had 110 children staying in the emergency department in 2024 longer than 24 hours. The average age was about 14. The concern is the number of children in that situation may only grow.

At the beginning of the week of Jan. 20, St. Charles had five youths staying in the emergency departments of its hospitals with behavioral health issues. “It’s maybe not every day, but several times a week,” said Wells Darling.

St. Charles provided us with a chart showing the length of stay in hours along one axis and the arrival age along the other. The chart makes it very clear the problem is for people under age 18.

This issue for children was the first thing local legislators highlighted when they spoke to us earlier this month. State Sen. Anthony Broadman and state Reps. Emerson Levy and Jason Kropf, all Democrats, are working to find a solution this session.

Central Oregon needs a solution for children and so do other parts of the state. The legislators hope they can create facilities in different regions to plug the gap.

A group of people working in behavioral health from many different government and health care organizations are trying to figure out what Central Oregon would need. It might be six respite beds and 10 sub-acute beds. Respite beds are for shorter stays, one day to 14 days. Some children in a behavioral health crisis with support and a plan can return home relatively swiftly. Sub-acute beds are for children who need more long-term care and may have multiple overlapping issues.

There are already some strong resources available in Deschutes County for children in a behavioral health crisis, along with the staff at St. Charles. The Deschutes County Stabilization Center is also equipped with excellent staff and can provide many resources. It’s not a place children can stay.

Many people do care about providing better care for these children in crisis. But we haven’t yet found a healthier solution. Oregon should do better for its children.

If you want to learn more, The Bulletin’s Suzanne Roig wrote an excellent article last year that also explores this issue: tinyurl.com/Childrengap.