Oklahoma City-based OU Health’s Oklahoma Children’s OU Health celebrated the Nov. 4 grand opening of a 72-bed pediatric behavioral health center, which the system said is the state’s first comprehensive pediatric behavioral health center integrated with a children’s hospital.
The Oklahoma Children’s OU Health Behavioral Health Center is expected to begin treating patients in December. It will pair psychiatric treatment with pediatric medical expertise and offer inpatient and outpatient services for children and adolescents who need intensive or coordinated care.
The center’s 72 inpatient beds cover both short-term stabilization and longer-term treatment. The facility also houses intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs, a specialized neurodevelopmental unit, and space in every patient room for a parent to stay.
“A child’s behavioral health needs cannot always be separated from their medical or developmental needs,” said Rasim Somer Diler, MD, clinical service chief of psychiatry and behavioral health at OU Health and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.
Jonathan Curtright, president and CEO of OU Health, said the center expands the behavioral healthcare available in Oklahoma and links it to the children’s hospital’s specialized services. Mr. Curtright called the facility a lasting investment in children’s health.
The center will also serve as a clinical training site for students and trainees, which OU Health said will help strengthen the state’s behavioral health workforce.
Funding came from the Oklahoma Legislature, the University Hospitals Authority and Trust, and philanthropic donors, including the E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation and Devon Energy.
Oklahoma Children’s OU Health also includes the state’s only comprehensive freestanding children’s hospital and its only pediatric level 1 trauma center, and serves patients from all 77 Oklahoma counties.
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