by Darla Carter , @PrimeDarla –

Some mental-health and youth advocates are relieved that Our Lady of Peace won’t be closing as part of an ongoing restructuring of KentuckyOne Health.

The health system announced Friday that it will keep Our Lady of Peace but plans to let go of other local properties, such as Jewish Hospital, Frazier Rehab Institute and Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital, to create a “smaller footprint centered in central and eastern Kentucky.”

KentuckyOne Health has said it decided to continue operating Our Lady of Peace because the 220-bed psychiatric hospital founded in 1951 by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth fills an important niche.

“We’re one of the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit psychiatric hospitals, and when you look at the types of services we provide and the number of patients that we serve in Kentucky, it’s really unique,” said Jennifer Nolan, president of Our Lady of Peace.

 

With services for both children and adults, the facility attracts patients from all over Kentucky as well as the surrounding region.

“We recently just added an assessment center in Lexington to help increase access points in other parts of the state, so we just really have touched a lot of lives,” Nolan said.

Our Lady of Peace has more than 125 beds that are just for children and adolescents, she said. Ninety percent of the kids have been abused or neglected in the past, and about 20 percent of the kids are wards of the state.

Jean Henry, a former employee who’s now executive director of NAMI Louisville, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is glad the hospital will continue to operate.

“Our Lady of Peace provides a vital service in our community,” such as treating children who not only have a psychiatric disorder but a co-existing problem, such as a developmental disability, Henry said.

“We’re one of the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit psychiatric hospitals, and when you look at the types of services we provide and the number of patients that we serve in Kentucky, it’s really unique.”

Jennifer Nolan, president of Our Lady of Peace

Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, agreed that the hospital has a crucial presence.

“I cannot imagine anyone not giving a sigh of relief that they’re going to continue,” Brooks said. “But I really hope this (KentuckyOne Health restructuring) is an alarm bell for leaders because we don’t want to be in a situation where one or two closures means that we’re a desert for emotional and behavioral health, and we’re precariously close to being there.”

 

Our Lady of Peace provides an array of behavioral health and substance use services for various ages, according to KentuckyOne Health. It’s also the home of the Kosair Charities Children’s Peace Center, which the health system describes as “the largest and most comprehensive private provider of youth inpatient behavioral health services in the country.”

“We know that they, in fact, provide really high-quality supports for kids, and, I think, especially their work with older adolescents is stellar,” Brooks said.

“But you also have to remember the good work that they do with moms and dads is, in fact, directly linked to kids, so if a mom or a dad needs services, the fact that they can get them at OLOP is actually a real win for boys and girls as well.”

Our Lady of Peace averages about 160 inpatients, Nolan said. Its outpatient services include intensive programming for patients who come to the hospital on multiple days but go home at night.

The hospital has about 2,800 outpatient visits a month, Nolan said. “They’re up about 4 percent over the prior year.”

As a provider of substance use treatment, Our Lady of Peace has been part of local efforts to address the opioid crisis that’s been plaguing the nation. The hospital recently opened a long-acting injection clinic with services that include monthly injections of Vivitrol, a non-addictive medication that takes away the pleasurable incentive for people to use opioids or alcohol.

Shortly after that opening, the facility moved its Adult Outpatient Center for patients with psychiatric disorders or substance abuse issues to a building on Churchman Avenue that’s part of the Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital campus.

 

Once a potential owner for that campus is identified “that’s something we will certainly need to work out with them,” Nolan said.

The Adult Outpatient Center was moved so Our Lady of Peace could expand therapy services for children and adolescents at its main location on Newburg Road.

Michael Gray, advocacy director of NAMI Kentucky, will be interested to see what happens in Our Lady of Peace in the future.

“As long as they keep with their mission and serve the people of Louisville and the region around Louisville who have all different types of mental health diagnoses, that’s all that really matters … no matter who’s in control,” he said.

Sheila Schuster, executive director of the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, said it’s good news to hear that Our Lady of Peace plans to operate as normal.

“Our Lady of Peace, particularly with their children’s psychiatric services, have been in this community for a long, long time and have, I think, a very good track record of providing a range of services and, over the years, have tried to provide services for children that were not being served any place else in the state,” she said. “It would be a very difficult niche to fill, absolutely.”

The hospital serves some patients that “no one else wants to serve” because, for example, they may be highly aggressive, said Nolan, who noted that depressed kids may act out physically rather than crying.

“… We do have competitors for our general psych, but we do way more than just your generic adult or adolescent or child pysch,” she said. “These are kids that have been hospitalized multiple times, adults that have been hospitalized multiple times that just haven’t made progress over time, so we really treat the highest acuity patient in the state.”

Schuster said the staff, which is made up of about 700 employees, has a lot of expertise and has been a good community partner. “They’re active, for instance, in the mental health coalition and some of our activities where we try to bring people together and speak with one voice,” she said. “… I, personally, am very glad they’re going to leave Our Lady of Peace intact.”

Centerstone Kentucky, the former Seven Counties Services, also is pleased. Centerstone has a similar population to Our Lady of Peace and sometimes refers patients there for acute inpatient hospitalization, said Amanda Newton, vice president of marketing and business development.

“We need all hands on deck for addressing mental health and substance abuse issues in our community,” Newton said. “Our lady of Peace is one of the largest providers, and we work very closely with them, so we’re happy they’re staying in our community.”

Reporter Darla Carter can be reached at (502) 582-7068 or [email protected].