Lynn Williams, ARNP Christel Rinehart, ARNP
Nearly 18 percent of adults in the United Sates were diagnosed with some form of mental illness in 2014 according to the National Institute of Mental Health. These 44 million people suffered from illnesses such as anxiety, stress, depression, trauma, abuse and many other mental health disorders. Stewart Memorial Community Hospital in Lake City is now able to help patients in our area with mental health issues through agreements with Plains Area Mental Health Services. SMCH will be offering the first Mental Health Clinic at the McCrary Rost Clinic in Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Services will be available half days on the first, third and fourth Tuesdays of the month and the second Tuesday will be a full day. Sessions will be conducted mainly through telehealth, but may have the potential of having a provider on site on the full day. Nurse Practitioners, Christel Rinehart and Lynn Williams will be providing those services. Cindy Carstens, CEO at SMCH said they will be expanding the use of telehealth as more specialists are recruited. A new telehealth system purchased by the hospital has specialized attachments which allow providers to be able to examine physical ailments and opens-up the possibility of adding surgical and other specialty consults to their telehealth offerings in the future. The new Mental Health Clinic is the result of a study done by the Calhoun County Mental Health Services Task Force created in August 2014 as an offshoot of the Rolling Hills Community Service Region, which serves Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties.