The gift is the largest ever awarded by the Prentiss Foundation to the hospital, which -- including the latest gift -- has received over $34 million in Prentiss support in more than 50 years.
"There is a compelling need in Northeast Ohio for a state-of-the-art facility that provides a full continuum of evidence-based mental health care for children and adolescents," says Pamela A. Alexander of the Prentiss Foundation. "University Hospitals is recognized as a national leader and a pioneer in child and adolescent behavioral health, and Rainbow is one of the premier children's hospitals in the nation. We believe that by adding an inpatient psychiatric facility, including a crisis team, at Rainbow, to the already nationally acclaimed psychiatry programs at University Hospitals, children and adolescents in Northeast Ohio will finally have easy access to the cutting-edge mental health care that they need and deserve."
"We are deeply honored and grateful for this generous gift from the Prentiss Foundation," says Robert L. Findling, M.D., director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland. "There is a critical shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals in Northeast Ohio. This funding will serve as the catalyst to develop new and crucial psychiatric services for children and teens in our community and beyond.
"There is no child and adolescent inpatient unit in our region that has been able to successfully integrate excellent clinical care, professional training of future mental health professionals, and state-of-the-art research," Dr. Findling says.
The new facility will address three urgent needs:
- Enable parents of a child experiencing a major psychiatric episode to focus on helping the child first, while simultaneously guiding parents through the other necessary steps in administering the treatment process.
- Provide critical access to psychiatric evaluation and care for children brought to Rainbow with general medical illnesses that are complicated by psychological and emotional difficulties.
- Serve as a "Zero Tolerance" evaluation resource for parents whose children are suspended from school for making violent or threatening remarks while at school.
"This gift recognizes the outstanding work of Dr. Findling and his colleagues in addressing the much-needed facilities and programs to benefit children with behavior disorders," says Fred C. Rothstein, M.D., president and chief executive officer, University Hospitals of Cleveland.
"We are particularly grateful to the board members of the Prentiss Foundation for this leadership gift, which will inspire others to support Rainbow's very deserving programs," adds Sherri L. Bishop, Esq., senior vice president for Institutional Relations and Development, University Hospitals Health System.
The System's 947-bed, tertiary medical center, University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC), is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Together, they form the largest center for biomedical research in the State of Ohio. The System provides the major clinical base for translational researchers at the Case Research Institute, a partnership between UHC and CWRU School of Medicine, as well as a broad and well-characterized patient population for clinical trials involving the most advanced treatments. Included in UHC are Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, among the nation's best children's hospitals; Ireland Cancer Center, designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center (the nation's highest designation); and MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women.
Committed to advanced care and advanced caring, University Hospitals Health System offers the region's largest network of primary care physicians, along with outpatient centers and hospitals. The System also includes a network of specialty care physicians, skilled nursing, elder health, rehabilitation and home care services, managed care and insurance programs, and the most comprehensive behavioral health services in the region. For more information, go to www.uhhs.com.