A new leader is at the helm of the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital as it undergoes a change in medical staff this summer that for weeks has reduced the number of inpatient beds available there.
Wendy Shapiro took over leadership of the 25-bed state-owned hospital in Berlin in late May after leading an inpatient psychiatric facility in Clarion, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. In her role at the Vermont acute care facility, she oversees strategic planning, manages daily operations and “upholds focus on patient rights and successful recovery,” according to a Thursday press release from the Vermont Department of Mental Health announcing her appointment.
Shapiro said she has worked with people with complex psychiatric illness throughout her career. “I can’t imagine myself doing anything but (this), so I never see it as a challenging population,” said Shapiro in an interview Thursday. “To me, this is extremely rewarding.”
Her job has been complicated by a changeover in the organization contracted to provide psychiatric services to patients, which has been the University of Vermont Medical Center since the hospital opened in 2014.
A new contract with Columbus Medical Services began on July 1. To ease the transition, the hospital stopped new admissions for several weeks, and the average number of patients being served dropped from 10 in June to 8 in July. In previous months, the number of patients fluctuated between 14 and 20.
The pause did not increase wait times for inpatient admissions because people were able to be served in other facilities during that time, the Department of Mental Health told VTDigger.
Columbus was able to bring on the hospital’s previous medical director from UVMMC, which provided some continuity, Shapiro said. However, the Pennsylvania-based company also has had to hire three other staff psychiatrists, not all of whom are able to start work yet.
“Some of the doctors are new to Vermont and are learning the system,” Shapiro said. “It has just been a very smooth transition, but people have been needing to work out their contracts and stuff like that with their current employers. So people have different start dates.”
Currently there are 10 patients at the hospital, with capacity now for up to 12, Shapiro said.
(Patients can only be admitted by being referred by the Department of Mental Health after evaluation.) That number will continue to increase, she said.
River Valley Therapeutic Residence in Essex, a lower-level 16-bed secure site that opened in May, is now serving nine people in the custody of the state who do not need to be at the hospital, said facility director Troy Parah. He expects to be able to serve 10 people within weeks and shortly make the jump to 12.
“We do have to maintain a certain (staff-to-patient) ratio for safety,” Parah said. “We always knew it was going to be a gradual increase, based on our staffing and our ability to hire.” The particular need currently is residential counselors, he said.
Both Shapiro and Parah praised their current teams and said that recruiting and retaining staff in a tight labor market is an ongoing, but not unexpected, challenge.
“It’s the same across the country. There is nothing new that I’m seeing here compared to where I came from in Pennsylvania, but I see progress,” Shapiro said.
For Shapiro, the move to Vermont has been a dream come true. She said she has wanted to live in the state for decades, ever since a magical trip with her husband to the Stowe area after they married.
She is excited to begin making a positive impact in her new home, Shapiro said. “I see it really as an absolutely amazing hospital, an amazing team,” she said. “There’s so much opportunity.”
