Nursing Services provides nursing care to adult psychiatric patients 24 hours a  day/seven days a week.  Direct care staff are composed of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Health Service Assistants, Health Service Workers (CNA's) and Health Service Trainees.  Nursing Service also provides  staff  for  the Family Practice Clinic, Central  Supply  and  Patient Transportation. 

    Nurses are active members of the Multidisciplinary Treatment Team and have significant responsibility for the implementation of the patient's individualized Treatment Plan.  

    Nursing  Staff work closely with each patient to help them achieve a healthier level of functioning.    

        Caring is the basis of our philosophy, our practice and our service. We care for our patients as individuals, we care for each other as members  of a team. 

    We believe that each patient is a unique individual who has inherent value and is worthy of respect and dignity and that each patient has specific needs that change.  We commit ourselves to our patient's needs in the belief it is through caring that people move from illness to health, utilizing their individual capacity for learning and change.

    We believe that each patient has the right to receive care that is provided by skilled personnel and is based on assessment and an individualized plan of care developed and implemented by a professional interdisciplinary treatment team of which nursing is a member.

    We believe that the role of the psychiatric nurse is to facilitate holistic individual care toward the goal of optimal physical and mental wellness in a caring, protective, structured environment utilizing the nursing process.

    We strive to provide and support a therapeutic milieu where safety is of first concern.  Activities of daily living are maintained and all patients are encouraged to participate maximally in their own care.  Patient's rights are clearly defined and supported by all of the staff.

   Our care is most effectively provided through interdepartmental and interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. The primary goal of this cooperation is to provide consistent, quality care in a manner which promotes dignity, privacy and advocacy for all of our patients and their families.

   We seek to provide a learning environment for all staff and students that will benefit the patient, the hospital and the profession.  This learning environment is extended to all of the nursing staff in their continuing development by providing in-service education, encouraging participation in continuing education activities and recommending educational leave or academic benefits for those who qualify.