“Life is hard and we often don’t have a lot of support or know where to get that and the partial hospital program merger was about accessibility and unity and being available to reach members in the community,” said Dr. Hannah Herc, the division director of Brown University Health’s Unified Adult Partial Hospital Program.
Combining the programs from Newport Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital allows for additional treatment options that, in the past, may have been offered at one but not the other.
“So for example, Newport Hospital offers a co-occurring disorders track that we didn’t offer and it took a lot for patients to discharge and readmit to another program,” said Herc. “We’re actually finding that folks really appreciate being able to have this virtual option. It really removes some barriers to access to care.”
“Right now, on a daily basis, we have upwards of around 80 patients admitted at a time which is pretty large for a partial hospital program,” she said.
There are 30 providers.
“And what’s really unique about our program is that folks are also seeing an individual therapy and an individual psychiatrist daily,” said Herc.
In addition to treating mental health and co occurring disorders, this unified program help folks who experience challenges with emotion regulation or who’ve experienced trauma, all under one umbrella.