23
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 22-28, 2022
Health
‘A safe place’ for Brooklyn to recover
Interfaith Medical Center gets ready to open new Behavioral Health unit
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
& PAUL FRANGIPANE
Interfaith Medical Center is
getting ready to welcome patients
to its newly-renovated Behavioral
Health unit this week, after
celebrating the long-awaited refurbishment
with a ceremonial
ribbon-cutting on April 14.
“You can’t help but walk in
here and feel that it’s caring, it’s
welcoming, and that this is a
safe place to recover and get better,”
said Ann Sullivan, commissioner
of the state’s Offi ce of Mental
Health, after a tour of the fl oor
The hospital started renovating
the roughly 12,500 square
foot unit in March 2020, but work
was swiftly derailed and delayed
by the fi rst wave of the coronavirus
pandemic. Construction fi -
nally fi nished on the sunny new
unit last month, and patients
will soon be settling into the specially
designed rooms.
“What we’ve tried to do is
create a space that brings joy to
both the patients and the folks
who care for them,” said LaRay
Brown, CEO of One Brooklyn
Health, Interfaith’s parent organization.
“We want to remind
people of place when they come
here, and to have pride of place
and pride of people.”
Each room in the 24-bed Behavioral
Health unit has a private
bathroom, and a series of
bright community spaces invite
patients to gather and socialize.
The walls are decorated with
framed photographs of New York
City legends like former U.S. Representative
Shirley Chisholm,
Jackie Robinson, and Barbara
Streisand, along with huge, highquality
murals of Brooklyn’s
most famous landmarks.
“I know that all of you working
here are going to be able to
make a difference in peoples’
lives, a big difference,” Sullivan
said, to the Interfaith staff gathered
at the ribbon-cutting.
Interfaith’s adult inpatient
psychiatric unit focuses on stabilizing
and providing acute
treatment for patients with a
combination of methods including
medication, psychotherapy,
One Brooklyn Health staff, local community members and elected offi cials cut the ribbon on the facility’s newly renovated behavioral health fl oor.
Photo by Paul Frangipane
group therapy, and family therapy,
according to their website.
The hospital’s goal is to end the
“revolving door” of admissions
into psychiatric hospitals, where
sick patients are endlessly admitted,
released, and re-admitted.
Current patients contributed
to the design of the eighth-fl oor
unit, said Jason Hershberger,
chairman of One Brooklyn’s
department of psychiatry. The
most important thing for them,
he said, was plenty of sunlight.
Large windows in both the patient’s
rooms and the communal
spaces fl ood the unit with natural
light.
“The patients who are just
next door who are going to come
over as soon as we’re through
with the celebration are going to
feel like they just woke up in Oz,”
he said.
Outside the inpatient fl oor, Interfaith
also offers intensive outpatient
psychiatric programs, a
range of mental health services
at their Center for Mental Health,
and more, including substance
abuse detox and maintenance
programs.
“This is a place where our
people will heal,” said US Rep.
Yvette Clarke. “This is a place
where our people will receive the
services, the insight into their
troubles and a way through.”
Clarke said quality-readily
accessible mental health care is
critical to reduce violence in the
city, referencing last week’s subway
shooting in Sunset Park,
which injured 23 people and resulted
in the arrest of suspect
Frank James, who was charged
with terrorism in federal court.
James’ defense attorney requested
a psychiatric evaluation
for her client while he is in federal
custody.
“I think about unfortunately
the very tragic shooting on the
subway system and there is no
doubt in my mind that if there
were opportunity for that guy,
that shooter to receive some
healthcare benefi t, that perhaps,
just perhaps, things would not
have come to what we experienced
and the trauma we all felt
from the actions that he took,”
Clarke said.
Clarke was joined by her colleague,
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries,
to announce a $425,000
federal grant for the Behavioral
Health unit.
“As elected offi cials we’re
committed to making sure that
just in the same way that you are
always there for us as a people in
central Brooklyn, we’re going to
be there for you,” Jeffries said.
According to Clarke’s website,
the money will be used to
purchase “life-saving” medical
equipment needed to provide
acute inpatient care at Interfaith.
“This is a place where they’re
going to fi nd comfort, safety and
hope,” Hershberger said. “This is
a place where you can regroup.
Because you can see the sun
streaming in through the windows,
you can sit on the counter
in your bedroom and soak it in
while you fi nd yourself again.”