Delegation From Hong Kong Tours Psychiatric Services at Deaconess

A three-member delegation from a Hong Kong hospital received a tour of UC Medical Center Psychiatric Services at Deaconess Friday afternoon, Feb. 14.

The visitors from Castle Peak Hospital—senior case manager "Ronald” Fan Tse-Wo, case manager "Donald” Lo Kin Tak and case manager and community psychiatric nurse Pan Lau Ka Hung—received a tour led by Bryan Griffin, DO, medical director and attending psychiatrist. They were accompanied by Peter Fox, administrative director, and Charles Collins, MD, vice chair of the UC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience.

The delegation visited the UC Health Mobile Crisis Mental Health Response Team and Summit Behavioral Healthcare earlier in the week, and also had the Lindner Center of HOPE, a partner institution of UC Health, on its itinerary.

Delegation members said they were hoping to learn more about mental health recovery models and take new ideas back to Hong Kong. They were also seeking to learn more about how people with mental illness are managed in the community.

Why Cincinnati? The visitors said they conducted an Internet search of U.S. cities and mental health services and determined that Cincinnati had the most to offer, with award-winning programs.

UC Medical Center Psychiatric Services at Deaconess, which includes Psychiatric Emergency Services, has occupied three floors at the former Deaconess Hospital on Straight Street since October 2011. The move from UCMC gave psychiatry a total of 72 beds, an increase of 50 percent.