5.25.22 - Mental health beds to return to Kingston
' KINGSTON, N.Y. — A two-year fight over the elimination of mental health beds in Ulster County ended Wednesday with the announcement that WMCHealth has agreed to return 20 inpatient beds to its HealthAlliance Mary’s Avenue campus.
“We are returning desperately, desperately needed mental health and detox beds back here to Ulster County to this site to what is going to be a brand new, beautiful state-of-the-art hospital,” County Executive Pat Ryan said during a press conference at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley’s Mary’s Avenue campus.
Ryan said the return of inpatient mental health and detox beds, coupled with other mental health services the county will provide to those in need in the community could help prevent such tragedies as Tuesday’s elementary school shooting in Texas that resulted in the death of 19 children and two adults.“I fundamentally believe we can answer the hate and the terrible things that happened last night, that happened 10 days prior, and have been happening over and over, ultimately with this, with humanity and care and love and recognition that yes, guns are a part of it and a big part of it but it’s much deeper and more profound than that and this right here gets really at the heart of that and so I’m really proud and actually optimistic about what that means in the moment that we’re in,” he said.
The move by WMCHealth to bring inpatient mental health beds back to Mary’s Avenue campus comes two years after WMCHealth eliminated its 60-bed inpatient mental health unit to accommodate what was expected to be a surge in demand for hospital beds stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there was never a need for the additional beds, WMCHealth did not reopen its inpatient facility in Kingston, a move that infuriated community leaders and elected officials who have pressured the state to force WMCHealth to reinstate those beds. In April, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro announced a partnership with WMCHealth to increase the number of inpatient mental health beds at MidHudson Regional Hospital, in Poughkeepsie.
WMCHealth is the parent company of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, which runs hospitals on Mary’s Avenue and Broadway in Kingston, in addition to MidHudson Regional Hospital and Margaretville Hospital in Delaware County.
The agreement announced Wednesday followed what Ryan and Josh Ratner, WMCHealth’s executive vice president and chief strategy officer described as “challenging discussions.”
“This is one step in a major community-wide and frankly private partnership between business and government and others to try to focus on health and increase the health and wellness of the community,” said Ratner. '
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