Former Petersham retreat will be an 86-bed residential mental health facility
Photo courtesy of Amanda MacFadgen/HEYWOOD HEALTHCARE Heywood Healthcare leaders sign closing documents to complete the purchase of the Petersham property that will become The Quabbin Retreat, an 86-bed mental health and substance abuse treatment facility. Top row, from left to right, Michael Grimmer, vice president support services and chief operating officer for Athol Hospital; Karen Coggins, president, Heywood Medical Group and vice president, physician services; Rebecca Bialecki, vice president for community health and chief change agent; Bruce Bertrand, M.D., vice president for medical affairs and chief medical officer; Tina Santos, Heywood Hospital vice president of operations and chief nursing officer; and Carol Roosa, vice president of information services and CIO. Bottom row, from left to right: Winfield Brown, president and CEO of Heywood Healthcare; John M. Flick, of Flick Law Group; and Bob Crosby, senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Tara Vocino
News Correspondent
GARDNER Heywood Healthcare has finalized its purchase of the former Sisters of Assumption residence in Petersham to use as a regional detox center for the Gardner-Athol area.
The 21-acre property, to be called Quabbin Retreat, is slated to become a center for treating patients with mental health and substance abuse issues by mid-2016.
“Behavioral health and substance abuse services are the number-one health need in North Central and Franklin counties today,” President and CEO of Heywood Healthcare Winfield Brown said Tuesday. “Due to lack of beds, we turn away 2,500 patients in urgent need of care each year at Heywood Hospital alone – and we’re the only provider of inpatient behavioral health service in North Central Mass.”
The plan is to transform the Petersham property into an 86-bed facility that will provide outpatient, residential and inpatient services for adults and adolescents struggling with behavioral health and addiction problems.
Heywood Healthcare will work as a partner with McLean Hospital, a behavioral health care company with more than 10 facilities including locations in Belmont and Princeton, to set up and run the new facility.
According to Rebecca Bialecki, vice president of community health and chief change agent, physicians and detox staff will make referrals.
“Patients will have mental health and addiction issues that ‘run the spectrum,’” Ms. Bialecki said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want to name any specific diagnosis, as that would be misleading.”
She said care will be of a more restrictive setting than a sober house, with the intention of having professional staff doing active treatment.
But patients’ stay isn’t set for a fixed amount of time.
“It’ll depend upon individuals’ needs,” Ms. Bialecki said. “Their stay will range from weeks to months, depending on level of care required and insurance funding.”
Patients will be first served from the North Central area and, if room allows, from other parts of Massachusetts.
According to Amanda MacFadgen, director of marketing and public relations, the project has received overwhelming support from Petersham and surrounding towns. Revitalizing the property will provide local employment opportunities for about 140 health care professionals, construction/renovation workers and administrative/service personnel.
While the purchase is complete, Heywood Healthcare’s next steps include developing infrastructure, septic, parking and water, Ms. MacFadgen said.
After that, administrative/medical offices and dining/recreational areas will be completed within the next three years.
Ms. MacFadgen said Mr. Brown and his team worked with Petersham closely to acquire permits and to hold a series of community forums from summer to fall 2014 at Petersham library. The agreement and sale purchase was signed in April 2014, she said.
“We averaged 30 to 40 attendees at each meeting,” Mr. Brown said. “Residents have been very supportive overall. There is probably no one who’s untouched by addiction or mental illness, either personally or in their families, so they appreciate the need for this type of facility.”
Ms. Bialecki said politicians, including Gov. Charlie Baker, have prioritized the need to address the lack of beds throughout the state and to recognize the need for more treatment.
“Our vision for this property is one of positivity and hope for those who desperately need behavioral health and addiction services,” Mr. Brown said.
This is the best thing that has happened in the area in a long time, provided they hire good staff, and enough of it. Security can not be a eighteen year old from MWCC. 3rd floor at the hospital can not meet the needs of the community any longer. This project will work as long as Mass Health has the money to fund the people in need of care, but at least these people will have a fighting chance to get clean.
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