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Home Wing Memorial Hospital News/Events News Center for Geriatric Psychiatry Opens at Wing Memorial Hospital
Center for Geriatric Psychiatry Opens at Wing Memorial Hospital

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 28, 2009
Contact: Bill Russo-Appel, Marketing and Public Relations
413-284-5238

PALMER - This morning, nearly 250 friends, staff and supporters of Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer joined in a ribbon-cutting event and tours of the hospital's new Center for Geriatric Psychiatry (CGP). The new center opens for patients later today.

"The Center for Geriatric Psychiatry provides a critically needed service to help improve the mental health of older patients throughout the four counties of Western Massachusetts," said Charles Cavagnaro III, MD, president and CEO of Wing Memorial Hospital and Medical Centers. The CGP is one of only two geriatric psychiatry programs in Western Massachusetts and is the only one to have on-site access to acute hospital-level medical treatment. Wing Memorial Hospital's entire staff of specialists and health care professionals is steps away and readily available for CGP patients' needs.

On September 28, Wing Memorial Hospital dedicated its new 15-bed Center for Geriatric Psychiatry with nearly 250 people in attendance. From left are: Cynthia Lyons, member of the Wing Memorial Hospital Board of Directors; Steven Marcus, president, New England Geriatrics; State Representative Todd Smola; U.S. Congressman Richard Neal; State Senator Stephen Brewer; John O'Brien, president and CEO, UMass Memorial Health Care; James Phaneuf, chairman of the Wing Memorial Hospital Board of Directors; and Robert Haveles, member of the Wing Memorial Hospital Board of Directors and architect for the project.

In partnership with New England Geriatrics, the 15-bed Center for Geriatric Psychiatry is led by board-certified geriatric psychiatrists and internists, who are assisted by a professional staff specializing in geriatric care. Wing Memorial Hospital has partnered with New England Geriatrics, an organization well known in Massachusetts for its mental health services to residents and their families in long-term care facilities throughout state.

As Wing Memorial Hospital grows to accommodate the needs of the community, the Center for Geriatric Psychiatry increases the number of acute care beds from 59 to 74, which represents a 25 percent increase. The CGP is located on Wing Memorial Hospital's third floor, which was vacated when the hospital's Medical/Surgical Unit moved into the Country Bank Pavilion in June 2008. The eight-month, 11,000 square-foot renovation project cost nearly $1.5 million to complete and includes 11 private rooms, two semi-private rooms, activity room, dining room and various areas especially adapted for geriatric purposes. The spacious and pleasant CPG offers patients and families a comfortable healing environment to restore their mental health and resume daily activities.

To keep patients safe, the new center incorporates innovative safety and security measures. Each entrance to the CGP is electronically monitored and access controlled. All patients wear wrist bracelets that ensure they remain within the safety of the CGP's therapeutic environment and alert staff of any patients' attempts to wander. In addition, the CGP is equipped with 10 security cameras that are monitored by staff, who conduct safety rounds every 15 minutes.

In patient rooms, Wing Memorial Hospital has incorporated safety standards and regulations for geriatric psychiatry programs as designated by the Massachusetts Departments of Public Health and Mental Health. These measures include secure ceiling tiles, windows, drawerless shelving for clothes, tamper-resistant bathroom fixtures and other measures to ensure a safe environment of care.  

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