Dr. Gollan: Behavioral health center great training spot

From left: College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., with Omaha philanthropists Howard and Rhonda Hawks, Alegent Health CEO Wayne Sensor and Ken Stinson — an Omaha philanthropist and chairman of the board of Kiewit Construction — at a news conference Thursday concerning the development of the Lasting Hope Recovery Center. The new center will provide an excellent training ground for UNMC psychiatry students and residents, Dr. Gollan said.

A new behavioral health center scheduled to open later this year in Omaha will be an ideal training spot for UNMC psychiatry students and residents, said College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D.

At a news conference Thursday announcing the formation of the new center — which will be called the Lasting Hope Recovery Center — Dr. Gollan said students and residents from UNMC and Creighton will benefit greatly from being able to study and work at the facility.

Because the new center will offer the most comprehensive behavioral health care in Omaha, students and residents training there will see more aspects of mental health care than they do currently and this will lead to a stronger mental health care workforce for the city and state at large, Dr. Gollan said.

“Through its clinical care, education and research activities, the recovery center will be a model that can benefit the entire state of Nebraska,” Dr. Gollan said.

Third-year medical students – who serve six-week psychiatry rotations – will truly benefit from working at the new center, said Steven Wengel, M.D., chairman of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry.

The new center, which will provide acute and semi-acute care, will allow students to monitor treatment further than they do at current training locations, which only deal with acute cases, he said.

This will allow students to better connect with patients and get a more realistic take on the effects of mental health treatment, Dr. Wengel said.

From left: Susan Boust, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at UNMC, Steven Wengel, M.D., chairman of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry, and College of Medicine Dean, John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., at a news conference about the formation of Omaha’s Lasting Hope Recovery Center. UNMC will provide one staff psychiatrist at the new center, which will open later this year.

“If students see how the work can be effective, they may become more interested in working in the mental health field after they finish their schooling,” Dr. Wengel said. “In a time when Nebraska faces a shortage of mental health professionals, this could be a very positive development.”

Aside from the training aspect, UNMC also will place one psychiatrist on the center’s staff, Dr. Wengel said. This psychiatrist will be determined by the time the new center opens.

The Lasting Hope Recovery Center — which will have 64 beds and provide care ranging from crisis assessment to inpatient treatment — is being funded by a private-public partnership that includes UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center.

The Lasting Hope Recovery Center is an example of the community-based mental health facilities that were called for by the Legislature, which passed a law in 2003 mandating the phase out of state-run mental health centers in Hastings and Norfolk.

Omaha-area philanthropists, including Rhonda and Howard Hawks and Ken Stinson, donated much of the money to develop the center. The Nebraska Medical Center and Alegent Health have agreed to provide additional funding if the need arises.

The Lasting Hope Recovery Center will be on the site of the former Richard Young Center at 515 S. 26th St. in Omaha.