Jeffrey Rediger, MD Jeffrey Rediger, MD - McLean Hospital

coverstoryMcLean SouthEastWorld-Renowned Psychiatric Hospital Brings ItsMental Health Services to Southeastern MassachusettsBy Michael JonesOne in five people in the United States experiences apsychiatric disorder each year.* Very few are likely to bediagnosed, however, due to several factors: the stigma westill attach to any form of mental illness, a lack of resourcesand society’s tendency to reduce too many ailments to theirsimplest physiological level. But as more and more doctorsbecome aware of the way mental health affects the overallphysical health of a patient, the need for top-quality mentalhealth services becomes greater than ever.Since its inception in 1811, McLean Hospital, an affiliateof Harvard Medical School located on a sprawling campusin Belmont, MA, has been considered one of the world’spremier psychiatric hospitals — a leader in patient care,neuroscience research and professional education. In recentyears, in its efforts to adapt its services to the changing needsof its patients, the hospital has also become more accessibleto new communities. In the 1990s, when the hospital realizedthat a large share of its patients were coming from therapidly growing region of southeastern Massachusetts, itembarked on a plan to open its first satellite inpatient facilityin Plymouth.“Rather than having patients from southeastern Massachusettsand Cape Cod trek through Boston to Belmont, we broughtMcLean’s resources to them,” recalls Richard Silva, McLeanSouthEast’s provider relations manager.The program has been a huge success from the day it openedin 1999; so much so, that in early 2004 McLean SouthEastmoved from its original 15-bed location in Plymouth to a largerfacility that McLean leases on the grounds of the VeteransAffairs Medical Center in Brockton.Source* Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, 1999.McLeanSouthEasthas been sosuccessful thatit had to movefrom its originalPlymouthlocation to alarger facilityon the campusof the VAHospital inBrockton.PHOTOGAPHER: DEBRA TROYANOS