Penn Foundation dedicates Loux Center to continued hope, change
These days, Penn Foundation’s got Open Access.
People who’ve called ahead or been referred by a doctor can walk in weekdays, have someone go over their paperwork and be talking to a clinician in as little as a half-hour, Michele Grida, director of administrative services, said.
“From that time, access to psychiatry is now at approximately seven days for an adult and approxiPDWHOy 10 WR 14 GDys IRr D FhLOG,” Grida said, “which for this industry is pretty amazing, so we’ve reduced the total amount of that by at least 30 GDys.”
Grida was one of several Penn Foundation employees who were guides or docents for tours of the new Dr. Norman L. and Esther B. Loux Healthcare Center, which was dedicated Jan. 22.
The outpatient facility that more than doubled the size of Penn Foundation’s main building on Lawn Avenue in West Rockhill is named in honor of Penn Foundation’s founding medical director and his wife.
Services are now more conveniently laid out for people of various ages, including children, adults and older adults, Julie Williams, associate executive director of mental health services, said.
There are lots of bright colors, toys, a family restroom and several waiting rooms in the children’s area, Lois Dodson, student assistance coordinator, said.
“We’ve really tried to make this very child friendly,” Dodson said.
A team approach provides services for children including the Outpatient, Blended Case Management, Children’s Community Based Services, Family Based, Wrap Around, Student Assistance Program and the Autism Support Center programs, Dodson said.
“We’ve brought all of those programs together so that now if there’s a child who’s receiving multiple services, those folks can coordinate services,” Dodson said. “Before that, it was like people were in a building across the street and all over the place.”
“The vision was to creDWH flHxLEOH ZRrNVSDFHV, LPSrRvH HIfiFLHnFy, SrRWHFW the privacy of our clients and enhance integration and communication among teams and departments. We also carefully considered current trends and how they will impact the way we provide care in the future,” ac- cording to Penn Foundation information.
hey features of the building, which is designed to meet environmentally green standards, include private waiting rooms, more community space and large windows allowing natural sunlight to enter. A full service pharmacy for Penn Foundation employees and clients is also being added.
Penn Foundation now also has a chapel.
Clients can use it to medLWDWH Rr rHflHFW Rn WKLnJV they have just spoken about with a therapist, Cal Lasigne, a counselor with Dayspring Counseling Center and a chaplain, said. The chapel helps give feelings of peace, assurance and safety, he said.
“That’s one of the beautiful things about Penn Foundation is a sense of peace and assurance,” Lasigne said.
All the wood used in the chapel comes from the farmKRuVH WKDW ZDV Dr. LRux’V RrLJLnDO RIfiFH, LD9LJnH said. Stone from that building is also used in the chapel.
“It’s got some of the heart and soul of the beginnings of Penn Foundation,” Lasigne said.
Wood and stone from the initial building, which was removed to make way for additional parking for the new addition, is also used in several other places within WKH LRux &HnWHr.
Dr. LRux’V RrLJLnDO RIfiFH rHflHFWHd D FKDnJH IrRP WKH way most mental health facilities were built at the time, Sandy Landis, director of human resources, said. “It was not a hospital setting, so ZH VSHFLfiFDOOy dHVLJnHd LW WR look like a large split-level home,” Landis said.
In 1956, Penn FoundaWLRn’V firVW IuOO yHDr, 629 FOLents were served. Now there are more than 10,000 a year.
LRux’V LdHD RI FRPPunity based mental health care was visionary at the time Penn Foundation was founded, Margaret wook, chairwoman of the Penn Foundation Board of Directors, said.
“We dedicate this building to honor and always remember that beginning,” wook said.
Wayne Mugrauer, Penn Foundation’s president and CEO, said he had the chance during the 1980s to have WDONV ZLWK LRux.
“Consistent with his early views, we discussed the importance of individual dignity and respect, the critical connection between behavioral health and general medicine and his continuing belief that our care is best provided in the supportive milieu of community and collaboration,” Mugrauer said. “Looking back, I am so incredibly grateful for the guidance and wisdom of those insights and I’m also grateful that those insights dHfinHd WKH nHxW 30 yHDrV of growth and program development at Penn Foundation.”
TKH -Dn. 22 dHdLFDWLRn marked the fourth time in fivH yHDrV PHnn FRundDWLRn has celebrated the completion of major projects, Thomas Leidy, vice chairman of the board of directors and chairman of the Power of Hope fundraising campaign, said.
The three earlier ones were for Wellspring Clubhouse, the John C Emily Clemens Recovery Center and the Penn silla development.
“,W LV WruOy HxWrDRrdLnDry and would not have been possible without the support of everyone in our community,” Leidy said. “There’s money available to manage all the programs that we do, but when it comes to bricks and mortar, those kinds of things, that’s dependent upon public support.”
“We continue to be truly grateful to this caring community that has entrusted Penn Foundation to caring for the community,” wook said.
“This community has supported us with prayers, with talents and with contributions,” she said, “and with that type of support, Penn Foundation continues to provide innovative responsive health care services that instill hope and inspire change.”
Jason, who moved into Penn Foundation’s silODJH RI HRSH Ln 2011 Dnd has now been clean for two years, also gave his story at the dedication.
“By DJH 13, , KDd WrLHd HFstasy,” he said. “By age 15, I’d accumulated four underage drinkings and got on juvenile probation.”
He graduated from high school, had a girlfriend and began continuing his education, but along the way, he’d also started using heroin.
“My addiction just kept progressively getting worse and worse, until one day I JRW Py LnFRPH WDx EDFN Dnd I was able to buy a brick of KHrRLn. TKH nHxW PRrnLnJ, , was supposed to be getting up to go to school. I didn’t wake up,” Jason said. “My mom had come downstairs in my room and she noticed that there was blood all over my face, so she had called Dn DPEuODnFH. , dLHd IRr 20 Rr 30 PLnuWHV. TKHy WROd Py entire family that I was either not gonna come back or I was gonna be a vegetable for the rest of my life.”
After coming out of coma, he went into rehab, but relapsed.
“I was no longer functional,” Jason said. “I could not keep a job, go to school, have a girlfriend, all that. I had lost all those things.”
Turning to burglary, he was arrested and sentenced WR WKrHH WR 23 PRnWKV Ln MDLO.
sillage of Hope, where he came after having spent three months in jail, has provided a supportive environment that helped him go back to school to work toward his aspirations to be a drug counselor, he said.
“Everything has gotten so much better,” Jason said. “This is the best I’ve ever done in my entire life and I’m Oh with me today. I can look in the mirror and say I love myself.” To see more photos and video from the dedication
ceremony, visit PerkasieNewsHerald.com!