Councilperson Strassburger to Join Advocates for “Speak Out for Mental Health” at Western Psych
Who: Pittsburgh City Councilperson Erika Strassburger
Representative Dan Frankel, PA House Health Committee Chair
Dr. Ken Thompson, Leading Psychiatrist
Dr. Nev Jones, University of Pittsburgh Professor and Prominent Mental Health Researcher
Libbi Cox, Mental Health Services Coordinator
Dr. Jeffrey Shook, University of Pittsburgh Professor of Social Work
Scores of Western Psychiatric Hospital Nurses
What: “Speak Out for Mental Health”
When: Monday, Sept. 23 at 4 PM
Where: Western Psychiatric Hospital, 3811 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA - On Monday, Sept. 23, Councilwoman Erika Strassburger will join advocates and nurses for a “Speak Out for Mental Health” in order to focus attention on the spiraling crisis of closed beds, severe understaffing and turnover at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. While Allegheny County faces a growing mental health emergency, dozens of beds at Western Psych are closed, seriously undermining the hospital’s capacity to provide effective patient care and creating chaotic working conditions.
The dire problems at Western Psych contribute to homelessness and public safety issues and impact everyone in the Pittsburgh region, including local residents and small businesses around the hospital. Much more resources need to be brought to bear on addressing mental health, especially retaining and recruiting nurses so the region’s largest behavioral health facility is fully operational.
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