Hutchings Psychiatric Center formally opens renovated Madison Street Clinic

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Hutchings Psychiatric Center has formally opened its renovated Madison Street Clinic at 660 Madison St. in Syracuse.

The clinic is now the largest adult-outpatient clinic in the area, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) said in a news release issued Wednesday.

The clinic plans to add primary health-care services to the existing behavioral-health services that Hutchings Psychiatric Center provides.

Construction on the Madison Street Clinic began in June 2015 and involved asbestos abatement and the rehabilitation of the first floor of the three-story building.

The $2 million renovation project added a new lobby and reception area for all patients, along with a primary-care suite.

The suite includes three outfitted exam rooms, a medication room, phlebotomy center, primary-care provider office, and nursing-manager office.

Crews also updated fire and security systems.

This space is a lot more than a “new, shiny environment,” Dr. Mark Cattalani, executive director of the Hutchings Psychiatric Center, said in his remarks at the clinic’s formal opening event Wednesday. Syracuse–area state lawmakers and OMH’s commissioner were on hand to help cut the ribbon.

“By integrating primary care with our pre-existing behavioral-health services, we’re creating a whole health opportunity for those we serve that greater than the sum of its parts,” said Cattalani

It’s a facility that’s going to integrate behavioral-health care and physical-health care, Dr. Ann Sullivan, commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health, said in her remarks.

Sullivan noted that one in five people in the U.S. are suffering with some kind of mental illness or mental-health problem, and only 40 percent of that one in five receives any kind of care.

“That’s woefully inadequate,” Sullivan said.

The renovated facility also provides space for CommonGround, the clinic’s peer-supported, shared decision-making program.

The program, that the Office of Mental Health developed, combines the efforts of peers, computer software and patients to support a client’s involvement in treatment decisions.

Individuals can access the service “directly” before their psychiatrist appointment.

The clinic currently serves about 1,000 individuals with behavioral-health needs and in the past, has been able to provide about 200 of those patients with additional physical health-care services.

The updated facility now enables Hutchings to provide primary health-care services to the majority of the clinic’s client base to “better help” Central New York residents “coordinate their health-care needs and improve population health,” according to the OMH news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com