Dear Sycamore Family,
Health care was born out of a very simple concept that had nothing to do with technology, pharmaceuticals, equipment, facilities, financial reimbursement, medical records, or any of the other advancements on which we spend most of our time today. It had everything to do with a person who had a need. A community of people who required care.
Toward that need stepped someone who had a heart of empathy and the courage to care. We look to Jesus as an example of someone who extended himself in the act of healing care. Even when health care grew more formalized, organized, and structured, it was done primarily by volunteers who were simply responding with the resources they had to meet the community need.
As a system, Kettering Health Network engages in a great deal of effort to determine community need so that we may direct our efforts and resources to make an impact on those needs. We participate with the Greater Dayton Area Healthcare Association (GDAHA) to compile an update on the area community needs assessment annually. This assessment forms the basis for changes and new developments by the health care systems that are in GDAHA.
One need that could always benefit from more service is behavioral mental health. Kettering Health Network has worked to be part of the response to this need in outpatient and inpatient services. However, the resources required are beyond those we have available and we all recognize the call to make a greater impact in this area.
This past week, we announced the plan to add 22 more inpatient beds targeted for adult behavioral and mental health at Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center while transitioning adolescent inpatient care to Dayton Children’s Hospital. Scheduled to open in July 2019, adolescent inpatient care is building 24 new inpatient beds, adding resources to this important opportunity for growth which has been identified in the community needs assessment.
Addressing community needs may come with challenges, but this is worthy of our time, attention, and effort to respond to the needs of our community.
Walter Sackett
President
Sycamore Medical Center