Above: Allen Nace, HealthAlliance Community Rehabilitation Services administrative director, opens the 20th annual “Addictions Medicine & Recovery Conference” at the hospital’s Mary’s Avenue Campus Auditorium Nov. 7.
Lawmakers Gibson, Cahill laud HealthAlliance for 20 years of chemical-dependency treatment
KINGSTON, Nov. 12, 2014 -- In a daylong conference, HealthAlliance practitioners and partners explored emerging promising practices for integrating the delivery, management and organization of services for the treatment, care and rehabilitation of people with substance-abuse and mental-health disorders.
The 20th annual “Addictions Medicine & Recovery Conference,” at the HealthAlliance Mary’s Avenue Campus Auditorium Nov. 7, brought together more than 85 people, including HealthAlliance practitioners and key network partners in Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia and Greene counties.
Presenters included HealthAlliance Community Rehabilitation Services Administrative Director Allen Nace, LMHC, CASAC; Gary Jacobson, LCSW, CASAC; and Nancy Covell, Ph.D., Forrest “Rusty” Foster, MSW, and Luis Lopez, MS, HS-BCPE, from the Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia University Medical Center’s New York State Psychiatric Institute.
The conference focused on taking a rounded, integrated view of clients’ health, bringing psychology, social work, mental-health counseling and psychiatry, along with general healthcare, together with substance-abuse treatments.
“More than 50 percent of people with substance-abuse problems have co-occurring mental-health issues and more than 50 percent of people with mental-health issues have substance-abuse problems,” Nace said. “There may be other health issues as well.”
“The conference promoted integrative innovations, including cultural adaptations and organizational-change approaches, so we can effectively treat the whole person,” he said.
The forum “was one of the few times when all the players were in the same room, hearing the same thing, joining together to accomplish our common goal,” Nace said.
HealthAlliance and Nace received special recognition from two lawmakers for their commitment to chemical-dependency treatment.
HealthAlliance received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, for “20 years of delivering chemical-dependency treatment programs” and a New York State Assembly Citation from Assemblyman Kevin A. Cahill, D-Kingston, for “20 years of providing quality and professional mental-health and substance-abuse care.”
Nace received a separate assembly Citation from Cahill “in recognition of your dedication to providing quality care through the chemical-dependency treatment programs of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley and commitment to improving mental-health and substance-abuse resources for the community at large.”
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About HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley®
HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley® is the alignment of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary’s Avenue Campus and Broadway Campus in Kingston, N.Y., as well as Margaretville (N.Y.) Hospital, Mountainside Residential Care Center in Margaretville and Woodland Pond at New Paltz, N.Y. As the parent organization with a unified governance structure, the goal of HealthAlliance is to strengthen the quality of care and bring forward enhanced technology to serve the present and future healthcare needs in the Hudson Valley. HealthAlliance and its affiliate facilities are committed to providing compassionate, patient-centered care and ensuring patient safety, privacy and dignity to all. For further information about HealthAlliance, visit our website at www.hahv.org.
Below: HealthAlliance Chief Executive Officer David Scarpino and Community Rehabilitation Services Administrative Director Allen Nace receive certificates of recognition on behalf of HealthAlliance from U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, and state Assemblyman Kevin A. Cahill, D-Kingston. Anthony LoBianco, Cahill’s district office liaison, presented the certificates from both lawmakers.