Psychiatric services for kids expanded

CLEVELAND (AP) -- University Hospitals is using a 5 million grant to boost psychiatric services for children and adolescents because of a high demand.
Additions include a new inpatient psychiatric unit at Rainbow Babies & amp; Children's Hospital and more outpatient treatment.
The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation awarded the hospital the grant in 2004, and the hospital has used it to help expand its youth psychiatry department from primarily a research center to a clinical center.
The department has hired five additional psychiatrists since July, said Dr. Noah Miller. The outpatient program is open, while the inpatient unit is expected to open in July.
Andy Calladine of the Center for Families and Children, a large community mental health agency, said child psychiatrists "are like gold."
"There's never been enough service across our system for children, so this seems like a very good thing," Calladine said.
Many hospitals in Cuyahoga County have cut state-licensed psychiatric programs -- from 42 in 2000 to 32 this year, according to the Ohio Department of Mental Health.