Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center announces that it is relocating its inpatient Behavioral Health Unit to a newly-renovated space on the fifth floor of the Johnson Tower, which houses other patient care units. The unit has been housed in the hospital’s North Wing, which will be razed in the near future to provide space for Ephraim McDowell’s expansion project. The new Unit is anticipated to open on August 4.

“We are excited to move our inpatient Behavioral Health Unit to a newly-renovated space in the patient care tower,” said Travis Thatcher-Curtis, assistant chief nursing officer at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center. “The new location will offer a modernized environment with more spacious areas for our patients.”

The inpatient Behavioral Health Unit provides short-term treatment to adults age 18 and older for a variety of behavioral health diagnoses. Specialized services for geriatric behavioral health needs are also offered to patients age 65 and older.

The unit uses a multidisciplinary approach to provide treatment, which involves physicians, advanced practice providers, licensed nurses, mental health technicians, counselors, social workers, activity therapists, intake coordinators and discharge planners. The unit uses a combination of medication, group therapy, individual counseling, and other therapeutic activities that are individualized to each patient in order to help them achieve their goals for treatment.

Programming on the unit also includes tailored treatment with the aim of setting individual goals and providing tools and strategies to help empower patients to achieve their goals.

The new unit is a locked unit that will offer a therapeutic and controlled environment with space allocated for group therapies, quiet activities and socialization. The new unit will have a total of 15 beds, and five of the patient rooms will be double occupancy.

The hospital hosted a ribbon-cutting and open house on the new unit on July 16.