SARASOTA, Fla.—Gresham Smith announced on December 12 the completion of the Cornell Behavioral Health Pavilion at Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota campus in southwest Florida. The 82-bed, 95,000-square-foot facility replaces the health system’s older psychiatric hospital across the street, enhancing, expanding and centralizing inpatient and outpatient care for people affected by mental and behavioral health challenges.

“Mental illness affects one in five Americans every year, so it’s imperative that the right behavioral health services are available in the right place, at the right time,” said Michael Willis, AIA, LEED AP, Senior Architect and Project Manager at Gresham Smith. “Our team is proud of the safe, therapeutic, healing environment we designed and are pleased to know that it will provide a full continuum of inpatient and outpatient services in one convenient location for the Gulf Coast region.”

In addition to intake space and outpatient services, the pavilion includes four inpatient units dedicated to specific patient populations: a 16-bed geriatric unit, a 20-bed acute care unit, a 24-bed adult unit and a 22-bed adolescent unit. Front-of-house and back-of-house circulation emphasizes safety for both patients and staff, and standardized floor plans enhance efficiency. However, while the units are similar in layout, unique colors, finishes and artwork on each floor—which were strategically chosen to reduce environmental stressors—give each space a unique identity.

To maximize natural light in the facility’s inpatient rooms, the design team increased the ceiling height to allow for larger windows. Additionally, glass partitions around staff and social spaces allow light further into the building while also enhancing sightlines. Promoting dignity and independence, inpatient rooms allow patients who stay overnight to control the temperature and mood lighting in their room, open and close their blinds, and certain patient populations have access to a personal shower. The interior courtyard, which features a garden, patio and gym, as well as upper-level screened-in porches, provide respite and further connect patients to nature.

Gresham Smith provided architecture and interior design services for the project, which is a continuation of the firm’s more than 20-year relationship with Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. Gresham Smith also designed the main campus’ nine-story patient tower, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facility, 600-car parking garage, surgery department vertical expansion, and numerous renovations within the hospital itself.

DeAngelis Diamond served as the general contractor for the project.

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CHANDLER, Ariz.—Embark Behavioral Health, a leading network of mental health treatment programs for preteens, teens, young adults, and their families, will soon add a Scottsdale outpatient therapy clinic to its services in the Phoenix area. The clinic is enrolling clients and will feature an intensive outpatient program (IOP) and a therapeutic day treatment program (also known as a partial hospitalization program, or PHP) as part of the company’s robust continuum of care.

“The new Scottsdale outpatient center, along with our existing Phoenix location, will be a catalyst for healing in the Valley and a window into Embark’s spectrum of services,” said Alex Stavros, CEO of Embark Behavioral Health. “Our teammates have done an exceptional job launching these programs and bringing the Embark treatment approach to families across the greater Phoenix area. And with suicide being the second-leading cause of death for ages 10-24 in Arizona, it’s more important than ever that we create access to higher quality mental health services.”

The clinic, located at 7373 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite D-120, in Scottsdale’s McCormick Ranch area, will be the second Embark location offering outpatient treatment programs in Arizona, with Uptown Phoenix being the first.

Embark ensures the highest levels of quality care and safety standards, offering programs accredited by The Joint Commission. Programs include individual, group, and family therapy, as well as therapeutic/peer mentoring, home health care services, addiction treatment, and parent coaching for issues such as:

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Anger/mood regulation
Anxiety
Bipolar disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Bullying
Depression
Family conflict
Self-harm/cutting
Social isolation
Substance use/abuse
Technology addiction

The Scottsdale Clinic: A Closer Look

“The new Scottsdale clinic will help more adolescents and young adults to maintain and thrive in their lives and relationships through the support of professional mental health counseling,” said the location’s executive director, Dr. Meka Allen, who has a doctorate in social work. “I’m excited to bring our unique family-centered treatment approach to those in need in our area.”
Embark treats the family as a whole, using an evidence-based and relationship-focused approach. In addition to providing family therapy, the company also collects thousands of data points and shares feedback with each family so it can adjust treatment in real time to improve results.

The Scottsdale location’s therapists will serve numerous locations throughout the Phoenix area, including Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale and Paradise Valley.

To celebrate, Embark hosted an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on March 30.

In addition to increasing the number of families it serves in the Phoenix area, recent Embark milestones include:
Expanding the company’s online mental health services with an insurance-reimbursed available to residents in various states across the country.
Moving the Embark Behavioral Health support office to Chandler, Arizona. The vibrantly designed space celebrates the company’s culture, values, and purpose.
Opening several insurance-reimbursed short-term residential and outpatient clinic locations across the country in states including California, Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia.
Launching the Embark Behavioral Health Foundation with a mission to raise awareness of the youth mental health crisis, end the stigma around mental illness, and drive more access to high-quality services. The foundation will also provide a scholarship fund to help adolescents, young adults, and their families participating in mental health services pay for private pay programs, insurance co-pays, premiums, and general fees.

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“PerfectServe’s ability to simplify and standardize communication between physicians and members of our nursing, pharmacy, and ancillary support teams will help us improve quality of patient care,” said Donna Gares, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer. “It will also speed medical communications between physician colleagues, especially when doctors need to reach busy consultants to discuss a patient’s care.”

Knoxville, Tenn.-based PerfectServe’s services enable anyone with patient care responsibilities at the facility to quickly connect with any medical staff inside or outside of the hospital by dialing a single number, or via a single Web portal or mobile application.

Information is routed automatically to the right doctor, in the right way, according to each physician’s precise instructions for every moment of every day, a company statement said.

“We designed PerfectServe to make the practice of medicine simpler by allowing doctors to selectively filter and control the clinical communications they receive,” said Terry Edwards, PerfectServe’s president and CEO. “Clinical communication and information flows more accurately, because PerfectServe assembles and maintains all of the workflow rules, call schedules, and contact preferences for every physician on staff.”

SJMH is PerfectServe’s first deployment within The Methodist Hospital System, which includes the Texas Medical Center and four community hospitals serving the greater Houston area.

“We expect PerfectServe will allow us to recover valuable nursing time by making it possible for clinicians to reach the right physician quicker and with less hassle,” said Bruce Kennedy, chief medical officer at SJMH. “It will help give nurses and doctors more time with patients, while removing a key source of physician dissatisfaction with the hospital’s current call system.”

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