Veterans Affairs medical center in Northampton to hire new mental health workers

Veterans Affairs Medical Center 2009.jpg

NORTHAMPTON – Veterans drawn to the Northampton area for the services available to them here will soon have even more as the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System in Leeds prepares to hire five new mental health clinicians.

A psychologist, a registered nurse, a pharmacist and two psychiatric nurse specialists will be added to the staff within the next six months, according to John Paradis, the public relations manager at the Leeds facility. All of them will specialize in mental health.

The additions are part of a system-wide effort to increase mental health services at the VA to meet patient demand. The VA New England Healthcare System will hire 19 new clinicians in all. The Leeds hospital serves as the base for VA services in the four Western Massachusetts counties plus Worcester County. It operates outpatient clinics in Fitchburg, Greenfield, Pittsfield, Springfield and Worcester.

Paradis said the Leeds hospital and Soldier On, the homeless shelter for veterans on its grounds, draws a lot of veterans to the area. Some of them are soldiers returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the majority are older Vietnam Era veterans. Each group has a unique set of mental health issues, he said.

Because the Leeds hospital has one of the VA’s few Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in-patient wards in the region, it draws many veterans who suffer from that ailment, Paradis said. Last year, the facility counted 985 in-patient admissions, although at any given time, Paradis said, the in-patient population hovers around 100.

Although the Leeds facility was once a full service hospital, it has closed most of its medical wards. In-patient beds are now limited to the PTSD unit, a substance abuse ward, a psychiatric ward and a 16-bed long-term geriatric unit.

“It’s basically a nursing home,” Paradis said.

The facility has already received applications for the new openings and will begin setting up interviews.

“We hope to have (the new clinicians) in place within six months,” Paradis said.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.