March 01, 2012

Miami, FL – Mercy Hospital, a Campus of Plantation General Hospital announced the opening of their Behavioral Health Unit.  The 32 bed unit will offer adult and geriatric acute inpatient psychiatric care in a safe and comfortable environment and will treat a wide range of behavioral health diagnoses with associated medical conditions.

 “Today’s opening is the result of months of collaboration on the part of physicians and hospital staff to develop a comprehensive program that will provide high quality behavioral health treatment to the Miami-Dade community,” said Barbara J. Simmons, R.N., Chief Executive Officer at Mercy Hospital.   “Our Behavioral Health Unit confirms our commitment to provide excellent patient outcomes within a compassionate and caring environment.”

The Behavioral Health program will provide patients with both individual and group therapy programs.  This program encourages patients and families to actively participate in both the planning and implementation of the treatment, including post discharge follow-up and aftercare.

“The program is designed to meet the needs of our multicultural community,” said Evelio Sosa, Medical Director of Mercy Hospital’s Behavioral Health Unit.  “Our focus is to offer services that are relevant and appropriate to the different sectors of our population.”

The Behavioral Health program’s staff is bilingual so we can better serve our community and meet our patient needs.  Mercy’s interdisciplinary clinical team of licensed mental health professionals will provide patients with the best treatment available through a combination of care coordination, preventive health programs and medication management. The unit will include state-of-the-art Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) equipment for patients with an eligible treatment plan.