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Star Democrat

QA officials mark opening of mental health clinic

By KONRAD SUROWIEC Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 4:22 AM CST

CENTREVILLE Queen Anne's County and state officials came to the Crossroads Community building on Banjo Lane last Tuesday to mark the opening of a new mental health outpatient clinic.

The Corsica River Mental Health Services Outpatient Mental Health Clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Wednesday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Treatment services include individual therapy, group therapy, psychiatry and medication management. The clinic is operated by Lower Shore Clinic.

Speakers at the dedication included John Plaskon, executive director of Crossroads Community; Mike Clark, director of the Queen Anne's County Community Partnership for Children and Families (the county Local Management Board); Rosemary King Johnston, executive director for the Governor's Office for Children; Queen Anne's County Commission President Gene Ransom; and Del. Dick Sossi, R-36-Queen Anne's. Clark and Johnston praised Mary Ann Gleason, family network specialist for Community Partnerships for Children, for writing the grant application that secured funds to help get the project going.

"I see (in Queen Anne's County) a community that pulls together around a community's needs," said Johnston.

The state plans to close the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center in Chestertown, although elected officials and citizens on the Eastern Shore are fighting hard to keep the hospital open. Sossi said the state's plan to close the hospital shows a "lack of foresight" because the Eastern Shore has no "safety net" to help the approximately 200 people a year served at the hospital.

Sossi said the opening of the Corsica River Mental Health Services outpatient clinic was a "great step forward," but said it's necessary to "keep the pressure on" because more work needs to be done.

Johnston said a 2008 report by the Health Resources and Services Administration designated seven of the nine Eastern Shore counties as health professional shortage areas for mental health.