Partial Hospital Program Returns to Behavioral Medicine Center Campus

The Partial Hospitalization program will soon return to the Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center (KBMC) campus, thanks to a planned 6,324-square-foot building that will house the program.

Youth ages 12 to 17 attend the program from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, in the program’s current location at Kettering Medical Center. The program has been in temporary quarters at KMC ever since the adult behavioral health program moved from KMC to KBMC in July of 2008.

The program treats about 15 to 20 adolescents a day. With this change, the program is expected to grow by more than 30 percent with its return to the KBMC campus. Budget for the new building is $860,000, and it will be on the existing KBMC campus at 5350 Lamme Road. Plans to move the current outpatient services into the new facility are underway.

Partial Hospitalization is a treatment program to transition adolescents back into society or utilized for individuals whose mental health needs are not acute enough to need inpatient treatment. The program has six employees, including two nurses, teacher, a social worker, and programming specialists. Kirk Chung, MD, adolescent psychiatrist, provides psychiatric care, including individual therapy and medication services.

“It will really help this program being on the KBMC campus, simply because it is so convenient to physicians seeing patients within our main building and it’s much more efficient for other staff who work with both inpatient and partial hospitalization,” said Medical Director Gary Balster, MD. “Close access to the gymnasium and recreation areas will make the program more desirable for referring physicians.”

Patient familiarity with the KBMC grounds is another big plus. Most partial hospitalization patients have been in the inpatient program at one time or another, and the behavioral health patients enter the program with a greater comfort level if they are returning to familiar ground. An instructor assists students with studies for one hour of each partial hospitalization day.

“This is an important program as it provides therapy, education and support while the patients are interacting with family and using their skills they have learned in treatment,” said Dr. Chung. “It helps avoid future hospitalizations by assisting family members with improved communications, problem solving and coping skills. Group therapy is also important in building coping, social, and conflict resolution skills, as the young people learn from the successes and missteps of their peers.”

Construction began in January, and the project should be completed and operational by August. Until then, the program will continue operations on the Kettering Medical Center campus.

Back to Top