McLaren Northern Michigan, part of McLaren Health Care and serving 22 northern Michigan counties, through its Cheboygan Campus, is set to open the Justin A. Borra Behavioral Health Center and address the high demand for behavioral health services in the region. Breaking ground in late 2021, the expansion brings much-needed resources and increases access to intensive behavioral health care through the addition of inpatient care and a partial hospitalization outpatient program.
Housed in a newly renovated 11,000 square feet, the 18-bed Pulte Family Foundation Adult Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit, with care provided by a psychiatrist, will have the capabilities to provide intensive, inpatient care for patients afflicted with the symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other thought disorders, such as schizophrenia.
“The need for behavioral health services is a nationwide crisis and one that will only increase,” said Dr. Justin Klamerus, McLaren Health Care Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer. “The northern Michigan region has a particular lack of resources for behavioral health care, and I commend our team at McLaren Northern Michigan for directly addressing the vital issue of inpatient psychiatric beds in their region.”
Also, soon to be offered within the Justin A. Borra Behavioral Health Center, the McDonald Partial Hospitalization Program will add a less-intense treatment layer to allow the center to provide comprehensive behavioral health care. With the capacity to treat 20 patients at a time, psychiatrists can address patients’ symptoms before they become severe enough to require inpatient care. It also gives patients leaving inpatient care a measured, stepdown resource in a structured, programed environment.
Staff psychiatrists will also soon care for patients in an outpatient setting in the campus’ Medical Office Building.
Prior to the opening of the facility, there were 35 behavioral health inpatient beds serving all of the northern Michigan region, with demand only projected to increase.
The emergency departments at McLaren Northern Michigan in Petoskey and its Cheboygan Campus would regularly hold patients in need of advanced behavioral health care who could not be transferred due to the region’s limited availability.
“The motivation behind our investments and expansion efforts are always to add services and increase access to specialized and in-demand care,” said Chad Grant, McLaren Health Care Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “The need for an enhanced level of behavioral health services in northern Michigan has been well-documented, and McLaren Northern Michigan’s development of this service line affirms our commitment, and it’s a program we’re grateful to offer.”
In large part, the project was funded by the philanthropic efforts of the McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation and a significant grant from the State of Michigan.
“We are so grateful to these and other donors, who have stepped up to support this important project,” McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation Chief Philanthropy Officer Julie Jarema said at the time. “Our community will be better served because of their generosity.”
Learn more about all of the services offered at McLaren Northern Michigan at mclaren.org/northernmichigan and McLaren Northern Michigan – Cheboygan Campus at mclaren.org/cheboygan.
About McLaren Northern Michigan
McLaren Northern Michigan is a 202-bed regional referral center located in Petoskey, serving residents in 22 counties across northern Lower Michigan and the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula. More than 230 physicians represent nearly all medical and surgical specialties, enabling full-service care with an emphasis on cardiology, cancer, orthopedics and neurosciences. McLaren Northern Michigan is a certified Primary Stroke Center, as designated by the Joint Commission. The hospital has a network of primary care providers and specialty care clinics throughout the region, and an outpatient surgery center in Cheboygan. Learn more at mclaren.org/northernmichigan.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $6.6 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 14 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 53 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.