WEBSTER, MA – Harrington HealthCare System held an official ribbon-cutting and community tour of its new 16-bed, inpatient co-occurring diagnosis unit (CDU) on Monday, December 12th. Co-occurring is the term used when an individual has both a mental illness and a substance use disorder. Harrington Recovery Services at Webster, located at the 340 Thompson Road campus, is the culmination of a four-year effort to convert the former medical-surgical unit into a much-needed, secure, local, acute care environment where patients with mental health and substance use disorders can be treated on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.
Harrington President and CEO Ed Moore told a crowd of about 75 in attendance that the new unit is expected to begin accepting patients in late December or early January pending required approvals and licensure. He called the unit the “crown jewel” in the behavioral health model Harrington has been building in the region, which includes a vibrant patient navigator program, collaboration with drug courts in East Brookfield, Dudley and Uxbridge and expanded counseling services throughout the region.
“This unit presents a tremendous opportunity for Harrington and for the region,” Moore said. “With the addition of this new treatment space, we now have a model that can be held up as an example throughout the state and throughout the country of how community health care systems can still make a difference. We will be saving lives. We will be making a difference.”
Moore also acknowledged donors Randy and Donna Becker and the Hyde Foundation for their significant gifts to a major community fundraising effort that helped support the estimated $3.2 million construction cost of the new unit.
David Seltz, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission said “This is a really exciting day for Harrington HealthCare and for central Massachusetts. This is an investment in patient care; it is an investment in needed services in this community. I am really thrilled that the agency I work for had a role in making this a reality.”
In October 2014, Harrington was awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization, & Transformation (“CHART”) Phase II investment program, $1.4 million of which was approved to help underwrite the construction cost of the CDU project. The balance of the grant helped Harrington create the patient navigator program that has become an essential component in the continuum of care.
According to Seltz, funding capital expenses was quite a departure from the Commission’s general practice. “Out of the 25 proposals we funded, only 2 of them had a capital project and this was one of them.”
“There is a tremendous need for investments across our healthcare system and when we thought about what would really make a difference in terms of improving our healthcare system, improving the care of our patients, we had to focus on those complex, high-need patients; those patients with mental health and substance use disorders,” Seltz said.
“In Central Massachusetts over the last four years there has been a 35% increase in people arriving in emergency rooms with a behavioral health condition,” he reported. “Right now, on average in the Commonwealth, there are over 100 people per day who are sitting in an ER for more than 12 hours; most who have a behavioral health condition and many who are looking for inpatient placement to treat their needs. That is what this unit will help accomplish.”
Harrington Recovery Services at Webster will provide treatment for those individuals with mental health issues that are compounded by substance use, according to Director of Psychiatric Inpatient Services Jeré Dittrich.
“Too often, those with mental health problems turn to self-medication to alleviate their symptoms,” said Dittrich. “Co-occurring disorder may range from mild depression because of binge drinking, to bipolar disorder becoming more severe as a result of an opioid addiction.”
“Although this may provide temporary relief for some,” he said, “it usually makes mental health problems more severe and difficult to treat. In addition, those individuals with untreated mental illnesses are more likely to relapse into substance abuse. The aim of our program is to treat substance use disorders and mental health disorders simultaneously in an integrated fashion. This will provide our clients with the best chance of overcoming their addictions and preventing relapse.”
Program components will include psychiatric assessments, medication management, psycho-educational groups, addiction educational groups, individual treatment by addiction counselors, family meetings, case management and aftercare planning.
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