From Danville Regional Health
System
Better Health Magazine Archives
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From Danville Regional Health
System
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Danville Regional Medical Center is pleased to announce the beginning
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of its child and adolescent psychiatry program with the recent arrival of Kanchan Clark, M.D., the first child psychiatrist on the medical staff.
"There has been an unmet need for child psychiatry in our area," said Lee Haber, Administrative Director for Behavioral Health at Danville Regional Medical Center. "I think there is frequently a lack of awareness about child psychiatry and a stigma attached to seeking help from professionals for behavioral problems."
Behavioral problems affect millions of children. Between 5 percent to 9 percent of children have behavioral health disorders that severely interfere with their ability to function in their daily lives. Approximately 5 percent of children ages 9 to 17 have ADHD.
Dr. Clark and the child psychiatry program will be an asset to the youth in the community. With more than 15 years of experience, Dr. Clark is Board Certified in both Adult and Child Psychiatry. Although inpatient hospitalization for children will not be provided at this time, Dr. Clark can provide clinical evaluations in her office on South Main Street.
"The focus in behavioral health today is to treat patients on more of an outpatient basis," said Haber. "In the near future, we'd like to develop after-school group therapy programs for children and adolescents. Our task now is to assess the needs of children in our community."
While the child psychiatry program is in its beginning stages, work will focus on developing awareness of the new program. "We hope to introduce Dr. Clark to pediatricians in the community to develop ways of collaborating with them," said Haber. "Dr. Clark will also be contacting public and private schools in the area and will be available to speak to parent and teacher groups on behavioral health issues."
For more information, call Patti Moore, Director of Community Relations for Behavioral Health Services, at (434) 799-2105