PTSD
Garden Park Medical Center is pleased to announce the implementation of a nine bed Post Traumatic Stress and Substance Abuse Wellness Program for active duty military, veterans and retirees. The unit will be named S.T.A.R ��� Stress, Trauma, Addiction, Recovery wellness program. The effort has been a three year initiative whereby the Mississippi Department of Health worked alongside Garden Park to change the state health plan which resulted in Garden Park�۪s ability to obtain a certificate of need for this imperative service line.
Garden Park Medical Center recognized the need for additional clinical support due to the current demand and subsequent limited facilities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. With our partners - the Commander of the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base, Lieutenant Commander of the Medical Services Corps of the United States Navy, the MS Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, Mississippi Mental Health Association, among others, Garden Park received the approval necessary to launch the program, established to guide soldiers to mental and physical wellness.
Initially, the program will be specific to active duty military. The treatment plans and referrals will be initiated by the commanding officer and base military personnel who will subsequently partner with board certified clinical psychiatrist, former active duty Air Force psychiatrist and Garden Park’s Medical Director of Behavioral Health Jeremy Owens, MD. Also on staff is Ralph Burroughs, APRN-BC a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
A wing on Garden Park’s fourth floor will be renovated and dedicated to the treatment program and will include some of the following amenities and services: activity room, private rooms, family therapy sessions, consistent updates provided to the commanding officer, and dedicated time for training. The average length of stay will be approximately 21 days.
Garden Park will begin serving patients August, 2014, preceded by an open house and ribbon cutting. For additional information concerning processes and referrals, please contact the Director of Behavioral Health Chonne Tyndall, (228) 575-7193.