Nyack Hospital to open mental health care center Tuesday

• Nyack Hospital opens new center Tuesday to offer mental%2C medical care at one location
• Rockland County closes its in-patient mental health unit Tuesday
• Rockland's unit doesn't offer medical care%2C requiring hospital visits before mental health services can be offered
• Nyack's program will conduct medical evaluation%2C offer mental health care in same location

An effort six years in the making will culminate Tuesday with the opening of Nyack Hospital's new Behavioral Health Center, where people in need of mental and medical health care services can get help in one location.

The new center will open as Rockland County shuts down its in-patient mental health unit to save money and to provide a continuum of care not currently available.

Nyack Hospital held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday and offered tours of the new center, housed on the third floor and offering 26 beds bolted to the floor, recessed shelves and covered lighting to ensure the safety of patients on the locked-down ward.

"I'd like to remind the public that no one gets up in the morning planning to get sick and go to the hospital, but if they do, they now can count on us for both medical and mental health services under one roof," the hospital's president and CEO, David Freed, said.

Dr. Michael Rader, the hospital's vice president and chief medical officer, said a person would first visit the emergency room to be medically evaluated before being assessed for mental health care. The Behavioral Health Center can offer treatment by a psychiatrist and a team to help the patient return to their community, where they can then access follow-up care, he said.

There are many mental illnesses that could lead a person to need help, among them postpartum depression and other forms of depression, or manic-depressive disorder that is out of control, he said.

Several members of NAMI-FAMILYA of Rockland got a firsthand look at the facility. The grass-roots support service, education and advocacy organization is affiliated with both the national and state Alliance on Mental Illness.

Time will tell if the new center can provide the necessary care, they said.

"The families will be the best test for us," said Eileen O'Brien. "We're a family organization. In a month, two or three, we'll be able to answer those questions much better because we'd have the experience. We're very hopeful."

The closure of Rockland's clinic, which does not offer medical care, will bring the county a salary savings of about $1 million this year and $2 million in 2015, but care, not money, is the main motivator behind the changes, county Mental Health Commissioner Mary Ann Walsh-Tozer said.

The closure of the county's program on Tuesday will bring about 80 job losses, county Personnel Commissioner Joan Silvestri said.

The new center will employ a total of 64 full-time and part-time employees, about one-third of whom worked on the county unit, hospital spokeswoman Lauren Malone said.

The construction was being paid for by an $8 million state Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law grant, with the hospital to cover all program operating costs. The hospital has contracted with Horizon Health, a company that specializes in setting up and running behavioral health care programs.

"We're not in it to make a lot of money," Freed said. "We're in it to provide a service, but to be responsible at the same time."

Rader said mental health issues play a major role in health care costs and that by addressing the issues, fewer emergency resources could be used and unexpected admissions could be reduced.

"We believe in the long run, as health care reform comes down the road, this will provide for more cost-effective care and we won't have to worry about paying for this," Rader said. "It will be paid for in other ways in terms of a healthier community."

The new center is the result of a collaboration between the hospital, county, state and other partners.

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