Editors Note: This article was originally published in the Jan. 3, 2024 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
A new mental health clinic is set to open sometime this month near Delta Community Hospital, providing psychiatric care resources currently unavailable locally.
Delta Healing Solutions will deliver state of the art treatment for a variety of mental health conditions, but most notably will allow patients experiencing severe depression access to transcranial magnetic stimulation, a type of treatment seen as less dangerous than antidepressants with a proven track record for success.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation utilizes electromagnets to deliver electromagnetic waves targeting the brain’s neural networks that regulate mood. Patients are prescribed a series of TMS treatment sessions managed by a psychiatrist.
Psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Rayner, who operates the Whole Mind Mental Health clinic in Pleasant Grove, will see patients in Delta when the clinic opens.
Delta Healing Solutions is currently hiring support staff to assist Rayner in operating the practice.
“I think it’s going to be a really good thing for the community out there,” Rayner said.
Rayner said he first worked with TMS treatment for depression during his residency training in Reno. He was first exposed to it during medical school at the University of Utah, where TMS had been part of medical training for at least a decade, he said.
The psychiatrist said the technology’s use to treat depression is a breakthrough not seen since the advent of Prozac and other pharmaceutical treatments in the 1980s.
“It’s honestly probably one of the safest treatments we have for depression,” he said.
Antidepressants, by contrast, can cause a host of side effects, from weight gain to sexual dysfunction, he noted. Usually the only side effect to TMS treatment is minorheadaches, which respond well to over-the-counter pain relievers.
“Very few people stop the treatment because of the headaches,” he said.
TMS works particularly well for patients who’ve already tried medication without success. Rayner said as much as 70 percent of treatment-resistant depression patients respond well to TMS.
“When we can offer the same kind of safety profile along with the results, that makes all the difference,” the psychiatrist said.
The clinic’s TMS services will revolve around a NeuroStar TMS machine donated by a local business owner. The generous individual did not wish to participate in this story—he didn’t want the gift to overshadow news of the clinic’s imminent arrival.
The Delta medical community, by all accounts, is excited about the new clinic and what it means for area patients.
Dr. Steven Shamo, a prominent local family practitioner and medical director at Delta Community Hospital, said he was excited about being able to now offer some of his patients cutting edge psychiatric care.
Asked if there was a great need in the community for mental health services, Shamo described the need as “huge.”
“Oh yeah, there’s a huge need here. Just an enormous need. We have such a big need and we can’t get anyone really into services unless they are in crisis. Or unless they wait a really long time,” he said.
About TMS, Shamo said he was only vaguely familiar with it until he was approached by Delta Health Solutions about the new clinic. He said a medical student rotating through his practice actually told him all about it and how medical students are learning about the benefits of TMS and how to treat patients with it.
“We use this all the time,” he said he was told. “This is one of those technologies that we had such limited access to it’s not even worth pursuing because we couldn’t get people to it. Now suddenly we’ve got a state of the art technology that we’ve got available to patients on a regular basis. It’s hard to get people into a psychiatrist period. Let alone trying to schedule this kind of technology. But it is very effective.”
Shamo says the level of need among patients is almost all consuming these days.
“I see mental health issues. It almost consumes my whole practice,” Shamo said, recalling that when he was in medical school himself he was once encouraged to go into psychiatry, chose not to, but now finds himself constantly helping patients deal with mental health problems. “It’s really ironic.”
To be able to offer a suite of psychiatric resources to his patients now is a real blessing for a rural area like Delta, he said.
“Having this is awesome. One of the huge advantages of the TMS services is we have a board-certified psychiatrist overseeing the care of these folks,” Shamo said.
Rayner said he would likely see patients in person once a month as the clinic ramps up. But tele-health services will allow him to see patients even more frequently.
Expanding access to mental health services is one of Intermountain Health’s main goals for 2024, according to a recent presentation delivered by Kurt Forsyth, president of Delta and Fillmore community hospitals. He told city council members from both cities that the hospitals are investing in expanded tele-health services to deliver more treatment options to a variety of patients.
According to Delta Healing Solutions’ mission statement, the clinic strives to improve the “quality, accessibility and affordability of mental health services.”
“Mental Health challenges, directly, or indirectly, impact each and every one of us. They can inflict deep wounds that cause intense pain and suffering. Our purpose is to mend those wounds and alleviate the pain and suffering to help those in need live a purposeful life,” the clinic’s mission statement reads.
Delta Healing Solutions will operate as a nonprofit, making mental health services particularly cost-effective for under-insured and low income patients.
Rayner said most major insurance carriers now cover TMS treatment, though some plans require more traditional methods be applied first before they will cover it.
