Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center

Psychiatry: Healing the Mind

Dr. Jeffrey M. Levine, Chairman, Psychiatry, in hallway of newly renovated area.
Bronx-Lebanon’s Department of Psychiatry offers a comprehensive approach to mental health. “Our team is actively involved in providing a wide range of assessment and treatment services to those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems,” stated Dr. Jeffrey M. Levine, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry. The department accounts for more than 250,000 visits annually, and is widely recognized as a leader in the provision of community mental health services for children and adults. Currently, Bronx-Lebanon’s inpatient psychiatric bed census is at capacity. It includes a separate Child and Adolescent Unit, the only one in the Bronx. A new adult inpatient area that will feature New York State’s first “Intensive Behavioral Care Unit” will be opening in 2008. It will allow for the focused treatment of high risk patients by specially trained staff.
During 2007, the José E. Serrano Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Pavilion opened the new Adolescent Partial Hospital Program, which allows adolescents to receive intensive mental health evaluations and treatments – similar to those they would otherwise only receive if admitted to the hospital. A major benefit is that these patients can continue to reside with their families, at home. The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, under the direction of Dr. Francis Hayden, Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, has been awarded the largest grant in New York State to provide school based services as well as outreach to ACS prevention agencies throughout the Bronx. It is expected that this program will revolutionize care by emphasizing outreach (to find and help young people before their problems lead to chronic mental illness).
	Raymond Esteves, Assistant Vice President, Clinical Services (center), with Gary Weiner, Director, Mental Health Survey Compliance, and Brenda Abreu, Office Assistant.
A new Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) service also opened its doors in 2006. Through the intensive efforts of a multidisciplinary team that includes physicians, nurses, social workers, and certified alcohol counselors, previously untreatable patients are maintained in the community. ACT complements the department’s expanded Case Management Program, which actively supports patients with persistent mental illness and helps them live successfully in the community. It forms strong alliances for care by following patients closely, helping them keep needed appointments, and staying on medications. The department has also renovated its Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP). “Our CPEP is providing us with increased opportunities to address, stabilize, and potentially resolve family and crisis situations, a key factor in the treatment of mental health problems,” stated Raymond Esteves, Assistant Vice President, Clinical Services.
	Staff meeting in the Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Pavilion. (LtoR): Dr. Sanchez Lacay, Unit Chief; Barnarda Rodriguez, MSW; Dr. Bello Adejoh, Fellow.
A CPEP Mobile Crisis Team is also able to visit patients in their homes to provide intensive evaluations of urgent clinical problems and follow-up care in the community.
	Students in classroom with Pauline Vilchez, teaching assistant.