Iowa City, Iowa — The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is ending its Eating Disorder Program’s inpatient care this fall. The program provides intensive residential treatment for individuals 16 and older managing a severe eating disorder. Hospital officials say they’re redistributing funding to take on the growing numbers of Iowans with acute mental health care needs. Twenty-two-year-old April Bannister is currently in the program and will be among the last participants.
Bannister has anorexia, an eating disorder characterized by unhealthily low body weight and a fear of gaining weight. During dangerous episodes, she has been admitted to the hospital for monitoring. Most recently in July, her therapist confronted her about being severely underweight. That day, she committed Bannister to her seventh hospital stay. Bannister is stunned the program is being discontinued.
A spokesperson for the UIHC says the decision to end the program was not made lightly, and a range of services for people with eating disorders will continue, including intensive partial hospitalization and other outpatient programming.
