Flushing Hospital Receives Grant to Fund Geriatric Mental Health Program

Flushing Hospital Medical Center was awarded a five-year, $1.25 million demonstration grant from the New York State Office of Mental Health to develop an integrated mental health--physical health service for Ambulatory Care Center patients over the age of 65.

The service will consist of a multi-lingual staff, competent in Spanish, Korean, and Chinese, and will use successful aging and behavioral self-management concepts and practices to achieve the grant’s objectives. These include: increasing access to mental health care for individuals 65 and over, while de-stigmatizing mental illness for this age group, improving physical health, and, ultimately, integrating screenings, assessments, and treatments for mental disorders into primary geriatric-care.

The program is the first step for Flushing Hospital to become A Center for Life Style Medicine, an expression of The Agavé Project for Successful Aging. The Center will promote successful aging for all individuals and families and encourage self-efficacy, social support, diet, exercise, and the pursuit of mental challenges.

In addition, the Center will help Flushing health care providers and support staff learn for themselves, and teach patients, behavioral self-management techniques that prevent and manage chronic conditions that shorten life and interfere with longevity.

Flushing Hospital was one of the six facilities in the state to win the grant.

“We are extremely excited about the grant and the development of the geriatric mental health program,” said Dr. Ira Frankel, Administrator for the Psychiatry and Addiction Services. “We hope to use this program as a springboard to strengthen our integration of physical health and mental health services for all individuals at all stages of the life cycle.”