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St. Vincent Charity receives $125,000 gift for mental health center of excellence

Tags: St. Vincent Charity Medical Center , health care
St. Vincent Charity receives $125,000 gift for mental health center of excellence

The Cleveland Foundation recently announced a gift of $125,000 to invest in building St. Vincent Charity Medical Center’s behavioral health services into a center of excellence, which will help the hospital deliver a full continuum of comprehensive adult psychiatric services. 

David Perse, M.D., president and CEO of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, said the mental health initiative builds on momentum that the hospital has already established and also helps ensure that the future behavioral needs of the greater Cleveland community are met.

“We are blessed at St. Vincent Charity with one of the best behavioral health programs in the country,” said Dr. Perse. “With one of only six psychiatric emergency departments in the United States, we draw from hospitals and law enforcement throughout the region. These funds will help us meet the growing need for mental health services in our community caused, in part, by the alarming rise of heroin and synthetic drug use at a time when mental health beds are in short supply,” he added.

The Cleveland Foundation funds will be used for:

  • Adding another full-time crisis intervention specialist in the St. Vincent Charity Psychiatric Emergency Department to expand coverage to include evenings and weekends.
  • Hiring a board-certified art therapist and music therapist as part of the creative arts therapy program. The therapists will work with inpatient geropsychology patients, general adult psychiatric inpatients, partial hospitalization program participants, Rosary Hall’s detox unit and intensive outpatient program.
  • Expanding the hours of Rosary Hall’s recovery coaches to ensure a coach is on the floor around the clock to help reduce the number of individuals leaving detoxification against medical advice and contribute to region-wide efforts to reduce the impact of chemical dependency.

St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.

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