New Behavioral Health Wing Opens at Gouverneur Hospital

by Rachel Hunter

During a private Open House ceremony on Monday night, Gouverneur Hospital unveiled its brand new Outpatient Behavioral Health Services wing located in the easterly side of the Hospital.

Gouverneur Hospital Board members Mark Brackett, Roger Cook, Andy Leonard, and Ted Totten; St. Lawrence Health Board Member Brian Gardam; Deputy Chief of Staff Logan Eddy from Senator Patty Ritchie’s office; and Gouverneur Mayor Ronald McDougall were among those in attendance to learn about and view the new space.

From left: Deputy Chief of Staff Logan Eddy from Senator Patty Ritchie’s office, GH Board Member Ted Totten, St. Lawrence Health Director of Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Services Heather Rich, and other staff members are shown in the Behavioral Health Registration area. (SLHS photo)

Gouverneur Hospital CEO Eric Burch welcomed the guests and commented on all the successes the Hospital has seen come to fruition since it formally opened in January 2014. Some of the milestones include the completion of a $2.5M renovation and expansion of the Emergency Department, upgrading Imaging Services with 3D mammography, and the relocation of Inpatient Detox services from Potsdam to Gouverneur.

“Our hospital and St. Lawrence Health have so much to celebrate and be proud of as we are well on our way to fulfilling the North Country’s health care needs and reducing gaps in care,” he said.

“In 2018, we submitted a formal request for New York State Health Care Facility Transformation grant funding to help address the overwhelming need for opioid use and mental health services across the State,” Mr. Burch said. “With these funds, we will be able to expand how we offer substance use disorder, behavioral health, mental health, and detox services through an integrated, collaborative continuum of care with primary and specialty care providers.

“We’re undoubtedly making progress; however, it’s critical that we continue identifying and building out areas where we can improve availability to behavioral health services,” he added.

Behavioral Health Director Jayme Smith, PsyD, pointed out a number of the advancements made to the Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) services throughout St. Lawrence Health have happened within Gouverneur Hospital. Among those additions are Detox services, an Outpatient SUD clinic, and the Maternal Wraparound Program for pregnant and addicted women.

“We are truly thankful that Gouverneur Hospital has been supportive and responsive in rising to meet the need for Behavioral Health Services,” Dr. Smith said.

From front: St. Lawrence Health Director of Outpatient Psychiatric Services Laurie Zweifel, PhD; St. Lawrence Health Chief Financial Officer Donna McGregor, Gouverneur Hospital CEO Eric Burch, and Executive Administrative Assistance Kimberly Smith are in the Behavioral Health Registration area. (SLHS photo)

“The Gouverneur Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health Service area has been our most ambitious undertaking to date. This clinic will be the first in our system to provide the full range of outpatient, evidence-based practices under an Office of Mental Health license,” she added. “With this new licensure, we will be able to provide children, adolescents, and adults, cutting edge treatment in a range of modalities, regardless of the acuity of their mental health disorder.”

Dr. Smith said by offering Intensive Outpatient Services to our local youth, St. Lawrence Health is making a commitment to provide a new level of care for them, which is not currently being offered anywhere else in the area.

“This program will help keep our kids out of the hospital and in their homes and schools, where they should be, and we are poised and ready to start providing this much-needed treatment for them,” she said.

St. Lawrence Health President David Acker, FACHE, said, “We personally feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to ensure our community has local access to care and we will continue to make specialty care, like Behavioral Health, a priority for our area. While this new space is beautiful and affords many benefits, the exceptional staff working within the suite are truly our greatest resources we can offer our patients.”

Dr. Smith in an interview with the Gouverneur Tribune Press said the following: “The goal is really to provide patients with a one-stop shop. If people have mental health issues, in the clinic, they will be able to receive individual therapy, group therapy, medication assessment, medication management. Likewise, if they have any addiction concerns, they can get therapy to help with the addictions… We are so excited that we are going to be able to provide really any care that a person might need. One of the things that we are really focusing on for this clinic in particular is service to youth. We really want to make sure that children and adolescents are going to be able to access best care. We are looking specifically to do something called an Intensive Outpatient Program for adolescents. Intensive Outpatient is actually a great service because it creates a lot more service and structure than a traditional outpatient model where you come in once a week and see your therapist and then you go home. But Intensive Outpatient, you will go three times per week for about three hours. This kind of really intensive treatment helps keeps kids out of hospitals. That is what we are really going for… What can we do to make sure that mental needs are met in a way that kids can stay home. They don’t have to go to the inpatient. We are really excited about doing that.”

When asked about the need in the North Country for behavioral health services, Dr. Smith said the following: “We find significant need across St. Lawrence County, but particularly in Gouverneur. Really, the children and adolescents are struggling. We see this in the news with the recent rash of suicides. We are seeing it in the schools. I think Covid has increased a lot of stress in people, making people feel a lot more isolated. And so we are hoping that by being able to provide group therapy, we can reduce those feelings of isolation and really start helping people with some mental health needs that maybe they were not paying attention to, or were unable to gain access to care through the pandemic.”

Dr. Smith also told the Gouverneur Tribune Press that the new Outpatient Behavioral Health Services wing at Gouverneur Hospital would create around 10 new positions. “We have hired some of those positions, but we are still looking to hire,” she said. “We are excited that we are adding jobs in the community.”

Dr. Smith also said the following: “We’ll take any route of entry. Anyway you can get to our door, we will take care of you. You can call and give a self-referral. You can have your doctor refer you. You can even do a walk-in. We have appointments every day that are open to people who might be in crisis. So, anyway you get there we will help… This is really a premiere clinic. We don’t have any Office of Mental Health clinics like this in any of our other locations, so Gouverneur Hospital is really the first place, the first clinic where we are going to offer Office of Mental Health (OMH) services and Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) services. So it is really pretty exciting.”

Don’t put your health care on hold, to learn more about St. Lawrence Health’s Behavioral Health Services, and to take a look inside the new wing at Gouverneur Hospital, please visit https://www.stlawrencehealthsystem.org/services/behavioral-health. For more information on Substance Use Disorder Services, visit https://www.stlawrencehealthsystem.org/services/substance-use-disorder.