August 17, 2009 | Helping One Solider at a Time

Petersburg, Va. - Aug. 17, 2009 - A year after Poplar Springs Hospital unveiled its Active Duty Military Unit, hundreds of soldiers have received inpatient behavioral health treatment for the emotional and psychological effects of combat theater stress and post-deployment adjustment-related issues.

The unit is Virginia's only stand-alone program within a hospital where credentialed staff provides consistent military-specific psychological treatment to active duty soldiers. Under its "We Never Turn a Solider Away" policy, more than 170 soldiers have received inpatient care over the past year. The unit utilizes medical and psychological expertise in treating substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders.

In addition to treating returning veterans, a number of other Poplar Springs Hospital programs provide much needed behavioral health services for the spouses and children of active duty personnel as well.

According to recent Pentagon statistics, thousands of service members are at risk for or have been diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that up to 11 percent of Iraq veterans and 20 percent of Afghanistan veterans have PTSD.

"Considering the seriousness of escalating mental health problems and record suicides within the military and their dependents, we believe Poplar Springs is well positioned to support the soldiers and their families," said Richard Clark, CEO of Poplar Springs Hospital, a 199-bed Psychiatric Solutions Inc. facility. 

Poplar Springs Hospital's Active Duty Military Unit was created as a result of Fort Lee not having an on-base hospital and soldiers who required treatment in the community being misplaced on civilian behavioral health units. The available treatment interventions were not specific to the soldier's individual needs and the assigned staff was not attuned to military procedure and culture.

Col. Donna M. Diamond, the former commander of Kenner Army Health Clinic at Fort Lee, said, "The Poplar Springs Psychiatric Hospital has been a true blessing and has filled a vast need in providing dedicated behavioral health services to America's soldiers." 

"Who better to fill this critical need than our partner in the local community, Poplar Springs, as behavioral health is their specialty.  They revamped their program to provide a 22-bed unit just for soldiers and their quality services are readily accessible and timely.  Most notably, this is a unique partnering unlike no other in the state or the country," added Col. Diamond.

"It's been a year now since we committed ourselves to having a unit solely dedicated to military behavioral health.  As we say here, ‘some battle scars don't show,' " added Clark. "We feel it is our mission to support the men and woman of the armed forces that have served our nation domestically and abroad, and for that, we at Poplar Springs are truly honored."

"The sole purpose of the military unit is to treat service members and keep them safe during a time of crisis in their lives," said Dr. Kesha Rawlings, the Military Unit program director states. "The treatment program utilizes cognitive behavioral techniques in a variety of treatment modalities including: individual, marital, family, and intensive group sessions. There is significant focus on helping service members and families with redeployment stressors. Command representatives and chaplains are always welcome on the unit because we understand the importance of letting service members know that they are always supported in achieving their treatment goals. The program's goal is to return service members to a higher level of functioning and assist with discharge planning, while actively communicating with unit commands and the community mental health clinics at the service members respective installations."

The unit treats soldiers predominately from Fort Lee and as far away as Fort Bragg in North Carolina. In addition to inpatient care, the staff at Poplar Springs have conducted suicide prevention training to select brigades at Fort Lee. The military-trained staff consists of a military base liaison, nurses and caseworkers/therapists; this helps ensure compliance with military regulations and structure. 

Poplar Springs CEO Clark said he is especially appreciative of the support from Col. Diamond as the partnership developed among Poplar Springs, Kenner and Fort Lee.  "This successful behavioral healthcare initiative prompted an invitation for Poplar Springs to present at a recent North Atlantic Regional Medical Command (NARMC) leadership conference held in May of this year," said Clark.

Since leading Kenner for two years, Col. Diamond has been recently reassigned, but remains supportive of this behavioral health initiative. "Given our current war conflict of eight years, our soldiers experience stressors unique to military life as well as those common to civilian life; our soldiers need help," she added.  "One cannot necessarily predict when inpatient behavioral health services will be needed, but it is comforting to know that Poplar Springs is close by and ready."

Kenner Army Health Clinic is a Primary Care Services with no inpatient services.  They are dependent on local healthcare facilities for this and other services.  "Prior to the stand-up of this unique unit, my prior Chief of Behavioral Health Services, Dr Eleanor Gagon, and I consulted many Friday afternoons on finding an inpatient psych bed for a soldier in crisis," said Col. Diamond.  "Beds were full locally, as well in the nearby military hospitals.  If a bed was available, we would have to provide a medical escort to travel with the soldier and remain until admission.  That process took many hours."

Col. Diamond continues, "At Poplar Springs, beds are available and the escort time is significantly reduced.  The services offered specifically to the military by Poplar Springs are a win-win for our soldiers and their chain of command.  Primarily, the soldier can be treated closed to his or her unit.  This facilitates visits by the Soldiers' Commands on a regular basis.  In fact, the Soldiers' Command has 24-hour access as needed."

Amenities include: reserved parking for military vehicles, military personnel and family-only waiting room and designated admissions area.  Group and activity therapies are specifically designed to address the unique needs of military personnel.  In addition, there are also consistent admission and hospitalization procedures in place, with free military family lodging to accommodate families opening this fall. 

About Poplar Springs Hospital
Poplar Springs Hospital is a freestanding psychiatric facility located in Petersburg, Va.  The facility is currently licensed for a total of 199 beds, which include 75 acute (intensive treatment unit, adult, active military unit and adolescent), 108 residential treatment beds and 16 group home beds.  Programs include psychological and behavioral acute care treatment for adults and adolescent aged 11 - 17, residential, and therapeutic day school programming. An intensive outpatient program for substance abuse is located in Richmond, 30 miles north of the facility campus. 

About Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. (PSI)
Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. offers an extensive continuum of behavioral health programs to critically ill children, adolescents and adults and is the largest operator of owned or leased freestanding psychiatric inpatient facilities with over 10,000 beds in 31 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  PSI also manages freestanding psychiatric inpatient facilities for government agencies and psychiatric inpatient units within medical/surgical hospitals owned by others.