Keene Hospital Mental Health Unit Closing

Local mental health services are becoming more scarce. According to a story today in the Keene Sentinel, after July 1, there will no longer be inpatient mental health treatment at Dartmouth Hitchcock / Cheshire Medical Center in Keene. The article explains that the closure is due to a lack of psychiatrists.

Don Caruso, the hospital's CEO and chief medical officer, said that with this closure patients will have to travel much further for treatment.

"Brattleboro Retreat may be the closest one, but there are a lot of limitations in terms of what those facilities are willing to take,” Caruso said. “[Patients] could end up in Massachusetts or on the Seacoast; it could be very far away. For children it’s very far away.”

Read the full article here.