Behavioral Health Services

---

Bayfront Health Punta Gorda offers behavioral health services at Riverside Behavioral Center. Located on our campus, Riverside Behavioral Center is a 52-bed adult psychiatric center that provides inpatient psychiatric hospitalization with a broad and comprehensive range of treatment options.

Psychiatric Specialty Areas

• Baker Act Receiving Facility (Florida Mental Health Act, Chapter 394, Part I, Florida Statutes)
• Anxiety disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
• Geriatric psychiatry
• Memory disorders
• Brain disorders
• Mood disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Schizophrenia

Services and Clinical Programs

• Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Free confidential evaluations
• Semi-private rooms
• Medical monitoring and assessment
• Individual, family and group psychotherapies
• Activity therapies
  • Social
  • Creative
  • Physical
  • Spiritual
  • Musical
• Discharge planning

General Adult Treatment Unit
The Riverside Behavioral Center General Adult Treatment Unit provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessments and short-term treatment of the full spectrum of acute adult psychiatric disorders. We work closely with numerous mental health and social service agencies and private care providers to meet the medical and social support needs of patients returning to the community. The treatment team is comprised of the attending psychiatrist, psychiatric social workers/therapists, nurses and technicians. The entire treatment team works closely with families, care providers and outpatient programs involved in the patient’s longitudinal care.

Geriatric Treatment Unit
The Riverside Behavioral Center Geriatric Treatment Unit specializes in the treatment of medically complicated elderly patients with severe affective and neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychiatrists, nurses and social workers skilled in providing care for the psychiatrically ill elderly comprise the staff of the Geriatric Treatment Unit.

Patients are typically people that other inpatient and outpatient treatment modalities have failed or who have complicating medical conditions that cannot be managed in other psychiatric programs. The most common disorders treated are all forms of dementias, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Patients with neurological conditions complicated by psychiatric symptoms are also candidates for treatment on this unit.

Admission
To arrange admission of a patient to Riverside Behavioral Center, either the patient, the person currently treating the patient, a caregiver or a member of the patient’s family should contact Riverside Behavioral Center as soon as possible. The Intake Department will request that current clinical information about the patient’s condition be provided for review before admission arrangements are made. This information will help determine which services are most suitable for the patient.

It is essential for the Intake Department to have all necessary information in order to contact the patient’s insurance provider. The insurance company will then determine the extent to which the patient’s policy covers the admission. Riverside Behavioral Center currently accepts most commercial insurance, Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare HMO and Medicaid. Every effort is made to make this process as seamless as possible for the patient.

Patients who are being admitted, including those who are voluntarily seeking treatment, should report to the Riverside Behavioral Center Intake Department at 733 East Olympia Avenue in Punta Gorda, Florida. The patient will sign admission papers and review other documents that will be explained by the intake coordinator. The patient and family will then be escorted to an inpatient unit where a nurse will welcome them.

Medical and psychiatric histories will be taken and the patient will be examined. It is important for the patient to tell the physicians and nurses about any medical problems, including allergies to medications. A nurse will do an assessment so the nursing staff can plan for its part in the patient’s care. A social worker or therapist may also meet with the patient’s family to assess the patient’s social supports.

Help is a phone call away. Call us anytime at (941) 637-2474.

Note: This is a general description of what transpires on the day of a psychiatric admission. The process may differ depending on individual patient need.