The psychiatry department at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics next week will open a 24-hour Crisis Stabilization Unit, designed for people experiencing an emotional crisis or psychiatric emergency. The new unit in Iowa City is an effort to provide a better environment for people who otherwise would be waiting in an emergency room for a psychiatric bed. Designed to serve up to 12 adults at a time, the new unit features reclining chairs instead of hospital beds and a care team dedicated to providing immediate, specialized care. At any given time there are typically 10 people experiencing a psychiatric issue waiting at the hospital’s emergency department. The center is similar to the services that Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines began administering through the Crisis Observation Center for Polk County, which opened at Central Iowa Shelter and Services downtown in August 2016. That center moved in June 2017 from the original CISS location to the Broadlawns campus.