Theodore Ruza, DO, has accepted the position as medical director of the $1.3 million expanded senior behavioral health unit at McLaren Oakland.
Prior to joining the McLaren medical staff, Dr. Ruza worked as the director of Botsford Senior Assessment Center since 2007 and acted as Botsford General Hospital’s 2002 Chief of Staff. Dr. Ruza still resides as a clinical instructor for medical students at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Ruza continues to be very prominent within the field of psychiatry acting as a member of seven professional organizations, the lead psychiatrist with Jewish Senior Life, and regularly presenting psychiatric information across Michigan to other health systems and pharmaceutical companies.
Theodore Ruza, DO, received his Bachelor of Science from Oakland University and continued to attend the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Services in Des Moines, Iowa. He is certified through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Currently, Ruza has medical licensure in both Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Ruza joins McLaren Oakland with an extensive 21 years of experience in psychiatry, demonstrating his ability to provide excellent patient care, outstanding leadership skills and foster cohesive relationships throughout the organization and staff. Dr. Ruza commented, “McLaren Oakland’s senior behavioral health unit is at the forefront of geriatric psychiatry care. With this new cutting-edge facility, we are able to fulfill the missing gap for 45 and older adult psychiatric patients in the community and surrounding area. I look forward to the future of this unit and to continue demonstrating McLaren’s mission of providing the highest-quality healthcare to our patients.”
Located in the east tower of the hospital, McLaren Oakland underwent a $1.3 million investment for the expansion of the senior behavioral health unit. Thirteen beds were added onto the unit, bringing to the total of 40 beds available for patients. One wing of the unit, staff tend to patients 45 years and older and patients 65 years and older in the other wing. This newly renovated unit includes multiple upgraded amenities such as two adjacent day rooms, an open common area with sight-lines to the nursing station and a room fully dedicated to video conferencing for patients to use for court proceedings in lieu of transport to the courthouse.
The senior behavior health unit developed a program for patients in need of dementia or memory-impairment care in addition to psychiatric care. As stated by the CEO of McLaren Oakland, Margaret Dimond, “Baby boomers are skyrocketing and the need for Alzheimer’s and dementia care is at an all-time high. When we talked about meeting the needs of our community through our most recent community health assessment, we found we were in dire need of more senior adult beds.” With the addition of Dr. Theodore Ruza, and the upgraded senior behavioral health unit McLaren Oakland will continue to aid those in the community and surrounding Oakland County area.