St. Joseph holds open house for newly built Senior Behavioral Health Center
By Kathy Feist
On Friday, December 14, St. Joseph Medical Center will have an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony from 2 to 5 pm for its new $1.6 million 23-bed Senior Behavioral Health Center. The public is invited.
The Senior Behavioral Health Center will admit patients ages 55 and older who are dealing with mental illness. Since construction started 11 months ago, every detail has been analyzed and implemented, from the amount of natural light in a room to the kind of screws used in the door latches.
The Senior Behavioral Health Center, which will be locked for patient safety, will feature dedicated clinical staff. The experienced staff includes a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurses who also are experienced in caring for medical/surgical patients, social workers, physical/occupational/recreational therapists, a pharmacist with interest in psychiatric drugs, dietitian and psychologists. “The benefit of working with the hospital is its head to toe comprehensive care. If a patient has heart issues, a specialist is here,” says Helen Miller, Director of Senior Behavioral Health Services.
Andrew H. Kerstein, D.O. will serve as medical director of the center. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and has worked continuously in Geriatric Psychiatry since 2011.
This Senior Behavioral Health Center complements St. Joseph’s other Senior Care Service line that includes senior friendly emergency rooms, its senior suites, a comprehensive senior inpatient program and Sister Margaret’s Senior Clinic.
The Center is located on the 5th floor of the Patient Towers.
The Center expects to start admitting patients toward the end of December. Call 816-943-5800 for more information.