CONCORD: John Muir/Mount Diablo Opens Adolescent Psychiatric Unit
The John Muir/Mount Diablo Health system has opened a new psychiatric unit for adolescents in Concord, Calif., one month after the system bought and closed a private facility in Walnut Creek, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The new program, run by a "well-known child psychiatrist" Dr. Kiran Koka, will provide psychiatric and diagnostic services to patients ages 12-18. The 24-bed unit will address a variety of psychiatric problems, including depression, posttraumatic stress from physical and sexual abuse, extreme hyperactivity and substance dependency. At the beginning of this year, the John Muir/Mount Diablo Health system purchased the Walnut Creek Hospital building, adjacent to John Muir. The facility's closing concerned county health care officials, as it was the only psychiatric hospital in the county that served adolescents and one of the few in the Bay Area that accepted patients under the age of 12 (4/6).
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