South Nassau Communities Hospital Receives Grant for New Behavioral Health Service

The $317,027 grant will support the hospital’s Mental Health Counseling Center's program for adults dually-diagnosed with mental illness and substance abuse disorders.

Oceanside, NY, February 12, 2011 --(PR.com)-- South Nassau Communities Hospital has been awarded a grant of $317,027 to support the expansion of the hospital’s Mental Health Counseling Center Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), to include specialized behavioral health services and counseling for adults dually-diagnosed with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The grant was awarded through the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY).

South Nassau was just one of 19 hospitals and clinics across New York to have been awarded funding under this round of HEAL, which was focused on enabling hospitals and clinics to introduce innovations in mental health care that will prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and improve the quality of services.

“Substance abuse is the most common and clinically significant co-morbid disorder among adults with severe mental illness,” said Janet Kahn-Scolaro, LCSWR, director of South Nassau’s Mental Health Counseling Center. “The new program addresses an identified gap in behavioral health services provided in Nassau County and meets the complex care needs of patients with severe mental illness and substance abuse issues.”

Despite the prevalence of co-occurring disorders, much of the nation’s healthcare system remains divided along traditional service delivery and funding lines. Substance abuse treatment services occur in one setting, and mental health care occurs in another. Often, neither setting has the capability to effectively address both issues. A growing body of clinical research demonstrates that improvements in treatment utilization, retention, and outcomes are realized when psychiatric and addiction treatment services are integrated within the same service delivery setting.

Located at 2277 Grand Ave. in Baldwin (NY), the Mental Health Counseling Center provides more than 44,000 sessions yearly. It offers a wide range of outpatient mental health services, including psychiatric services, adult mental health services, a family crisis program and intensive outpatient program (IOP). It features a staff of more than 45 behavioral health professionals with specialization in psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, and marriage, family and activities therapy. Specialized services for depression, anxiety and childhood emotional disorders are also provided by the Center. For more information about the Center’s services or to schedule a consultation, call (516) 377-5400.

South Nassau Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 435 beds, more than 875 physicians and 2,800 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau has been named a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health, and a Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons, and is recognized as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

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South Nassau Communities Hospital
Damian J. Becker
516-377-5370
southnassau.org
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