By Jon Moskin
Dr. Stephen Hall has done it all. That’s not a catchphrase. He has been a professor of Psychiatry at UCSF, earned a reputation as an expert in the clinical aspects of inpatient, consultation-liaison, partial hospitalization, and emergency department psychiatry, and built a thriving private practice. And yet, with all the accomplishments that populate his curriculum vitae, his work as a geriatric psychiatrist at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (the Campus) has brought him rewards that no other aspect of his career has been able to offer.
“I’ve worked with people of all ages,” he said. “But the older folks have a wisdom of years that shines through. Even if they’re very troubled in one way or another, they understand that they’re being offered something special here. And they express their appreciation in various ways… It’s incredibly gratifying for me, and I think for most of the staff that work with them.”
Indeed, that sentiment is shared throughout the Campus’s Acute Psychiatric Unit, starting with Nurse Manager Barbara DeLeon. “I’ve done this work for almost 30 years, and I’d be hard-pressed to find a place with better quality of care,” she said. “And I just think it’s a special place where we have a group of people who are loving and compassionate, but also have a real respect for our multidisciplinary approach.”
“People get much better here.”
~Dr. Stephen Hall, Medical Director
In fact, that multidisciplinary collaboration between departments is a big part of what makes the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) truly special, as it integrates the “crucial link between physical and mental well-being” into every patient’s plan of care. “We really do try to treat the whole person,” Dr. Hall said. Accordingly, every person admitted to the unit receives internal medicine, social work, dietary, physical, and occupational therapy evaluations. Moreover, three times a week, the entire treatment team convenes to discuss the needs and progress of every patient in their care. It’s a level of attention and focus on individual needs that leads to extraordinary outcomes.
There is a misconception that older patients don’t often make dramatic improvements in their condition. But that could not be further from the truth. Both subjective patient satisfaction surveys and feedback from clinicians indicate that most APU patients return to their home lives, wherever they may be, in a much healthier place. “It’s remarkable to see somebody who’s in a wheelchair, very depressed, socially isolated, withdrawn, not eating, and not talking much be able to leave the hospital three weeks later, feeling upbeat, walking, making eye contact, talking, and eating well.” And yet, progress like that is not the exception at the Acute Psychiatric Unit; it is the norm. The question is why? What are the reasons for such exceptional outcomes for patients who frequently come to the APU during some of the darkest times of their lives?
The answer, according to Dr. Hall and Barbara Deleon, comes down to programming.
This is not a place where patients simply recuperate. Rather, they are immersed in a regimen of individualized care and comprehensive engagement that larger, more impersonal facilities can’t match. That typically includes two to three hours of group therapy daily, including evening and weekend programming, and “life enrichment” activities such as movement groups, art, wordplay and music..
But it’s not just the services that are exceptional in the APU. It’s the people that are providing them.
“I noticed it when I started working here ten years ago,” said Dr. Hall. “The nursing staff, the RNs, the CNAs, are very loving, gentle, and caring and that is just crucial to the work we do.”
“From top to bottom, our team shows compassion, positivity, and a true desire to work with older adults,” Barbara said. “And, most importantly, their hearts are in the right place.”
For more information about the Jewish Home & Rehab Center’s Acute Geriatric Psychiatry services, visit our website or call 415-469-2328.