Page 4 - Christiana Care Focus

Healing begins
with hope
The new Center for Hope and Healing offers a lifeline for people with mental, physical and social illnesses
When life throws its punches, the journey to healing begins with hope.
Christiana Care’s new Center for Hope and Healing at Wilmington Hospital will help some of the most vulnerable members of the community improve their medical and behavioral health while addressing social barriers that can undermine their success.
This unique, comprehensive approach to health supports patients who struggle with significant mental illness as
well as a chronic medical condition or a significant social need, such as homelessness,hungeroraddiction.
By addressing both medical and non- medical needs that can impede good health, the center’s innovative level of extended care will help patients to achieve better health and prevent unnecessary emergency department visits, hospitalizations and readmissions.
“We understand the challenges that our patients face, and we are here to walk with them every step of the way on the road to meeting their health goals,” said Linda J. Lang, M.D., chair of the Department of Psychiatry and medical director of the Behavioral Health Service Line at Christiana
Care. “We are not only healing bodies and minds with excellence; we are serving souls with love.”
The Center for Hope and Healing offers a specialized combination of:
• Behavioralhealthtotreatcomplex needs such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and severe depression.
• Communityinterventionstoaddress social determinants of health, such
as homelessness, food insecurity and addiction.
• Primarycaretohelppatientstake control of their health and appropriately manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Diane Bohner, M.D., MS, FACP, clinical lead for the new center, said her team will serve the individuals who need help quickly and require intensive attention, especially early in their journey.
“We’re going to wrap around these patients with services, stabilize them, get them back to functioning and set up a plan to help them manage both their physical and mental health,” she said.
“Formanypatients,thehelpprovidedbythe Center for Hope and Healing will make all the difference.”
Carefromeveryangle
Initially, the center will serve about 200 patients who are identified as needing this enhancedlevelofcoordinatedcare.Patients may be referred from Wilmington Hospital, including Wilmington Hospital’s adult primary care practices, and Christiana Care’s Carelink Community Team program, which already serves a wide variety of people in the community with complex medical and non- medical needs.
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