Samaritan uses Kinney gift to expand mental-health services

WATERTOWN — Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown is using a donation from the Kinney Drugs Foundation to expand its mental-health treatment services and treatment space within the hospital. Gouverneur–based Kinney Drugs and the Kinney Drugs Foundation donated $250,000 in funding to the Samaritan Medical Center Foundation of Northern New York to help fund the expansion. In recognition of this recent financial commitment, the adult inpatient mental-health unit space will be named in honor of Kinney Drugs. The New York State Office of Mental Health has approved the request from Samaritan’s inpatient mental-health unit to increase the bed count in the unit from 34 to 39 beds, the hospital tells CNYBJ in an April 30 email. It expects crews to complete construction work within five months. The five additional rooms will be private, which is a “significant need,” per a March 13 announcement from Samaritan Medical Center. The current physical space consists of only of double-occupant rooms. The rooms “often cannot be used” for two patients due to aggression, infection control issues, and other reasons, the hospital said. The unit is “typically full,” and with the “increase in mental-health crises,” patients go to the emergency department. Fifty percent of the adults who visit the emergency department in a psychiatric crisis will need a stabilization inpatient stay within this unit, Samaritan noted.

Kinney’s support

The Kinney Drugs Foundation is the philanthropic arm of KPH Healthcare Services, Inc. with locations in 14 states, including its home state of New York. Since its inception in 2002, the Kinney Drugs Foundation has provided more than $12 million to help the communities in which it operates, per the Samaritan announcement. Kinney Drugs and its foundation remain among Samaritan’s top donors, supporters, and partners. They are dedicated to the pediatric-patient population and have donated needed funds in multiple departments within the Car-Freshner Center for Women & Children, including the Level II neonatal intensive care unit (or NICU); the play area on the pediatric-inpatient unit; and a cesarean surgical suite in labor and delivery. In addition, Kinney is a partner and fundraiser for the Samaritan’s Children’s Miracle Network program.