Mental Health Services Change in Poweshiek County

The Poweshiek County Mental Health Center has announced it will cease operation on Saturday, April 13, 2013, after more than 40 years of providing mental health services to county residents.

“The Poweshiek County Mental Health Center has been struggling with the economics of operating a rural mental health center for many years,” says Doug Cameron, volunteer board president of the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center. “The shortage of providers in the county combined with poor reimbursement have stressed the local services to a point where we are faced with no choice but to close the center.”

 Poweshiek County Mental Health Center clients will be able to receive mental health services locally with the announcement by Grinnell Regional Medical Center to offer a new program. Grinnell Regional Mental Health will begin providing medication management services on April 1 and counseling services on Monday, April 15, on the second floor of the Ahrens Medical Arts Center. 

 Laura Van Cleve, DO, psychiatrist, will serve as the program’s medical director. GRMC will hire a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse, therapists, and other mental health staff to care for clients. Janne Johnson, ARNP, of Seasons Center for Behavioral Health in Spirit Lake, will continue providing telepsychiatry via video conferencing. Joel Rand, PA-C, will continue to assist with medication management on a temporary basis until new practitioners are hired.  Appointments may be made by calling 641-236-2347.

”GRMC has been providing psychiatric medication management for clients of the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center since February 4 to fill a void at the mental health center,” says Suzanne Cooner, GRMC vice-president of operations. “Our family practitioners, Dr. Patrick Cogley and Joel Rand, stepped in quickly to help. We could not have managed without them. Our primary concern has been, and will continue to be, providing quality healthcare for area residents. We continue to read daily about the serious shortage of mental health providers and funding for services.  Iowa ranks 47th out of 50 states for psychiatrists per capita and 46th in per capita for number of psychologists. We will face this challenge until state and federal funding and policy changes.”

 GRMC opted to start its own program after the mental health board indicated it would not remain open due to financial difficulties.

 ”GRMC is working with the mental health staff to assist clients and allow them to receive the care they need,” Cameron says. “We are also working on a solution to partner with another organization that can sustain the Station Club House. Larger organizations have the efficiencies in billing, human resources, and other administrative functions to reduce operational costs in running a clinic.”

 ”I want to commend the mental health staff for their efforts over the past four years to make the community mental health center work. They all made personal sacrifices with the hopes to pull through the difficult financial times,” Cameron says. “Marilyn Kennent, past board president, worked very hard and creatively to pull together resources. The center just didn’t have the money to continue.”

 ”Though the board had received generous support from the community to raise some funds, Iowa and Poweshiek County are funded at such a low level that an independent program just can’t sustain itself any longer,” Cameron says.

 Dawn Roth, the Poweshiek County Community Services Administrator – Central Point of Coordination administrator, added that her organization will help with a smooth transition for current clients of the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center to the new Grinnell Regional Mental Health. The CPC provides funding for low income individual. 

 ”It is imperative that everyone work together in this transition,” Roth says. “We’ll work with the hospital to fund services for the uninsured in the county. We provide funding assistance for approximately 150 residents in Poweshiek County. My role is to assist these individuals to get the services, resources and treatments needed. There is a definite shortage of providers and resources so we appreciate that the hospital will begin its program.”

 Cooner assures the community that “we are all doing all we can as quickly as possible to ensure that individuals with mental health issues do not go untreated.  Providing high quality and sustainable mental health services to serve the residents of our community is our first priority.”