Pennyroyal Center opening clinic to public

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Last year the Pennyroyal Mental Health Center opened a primary care clinic where psychiatrists could send clients who needed medical help.

With an expanded staff and a larger facility, the clinic is now swinging its doors open to the general public. Anyone who has insurance, including Medicaid, or money to pay out-of-pocket can get treatment there.

It will bring two full-time physicians, four physicians working on contract, an advanced practice nurse practitioner and a nurse care manager to the supply of local providers — a significant addition, considering this area’s shortage of doctors.

“We want service that anyone would be willing to go to,” said David Ptaszek, the Pennyroyal Center’s executive director. “I’ve got an appointment next Tuesday.”

But it will particularly help patients who suspect they suffer from clinical depression or any other mental illness, said Tim Golden, the organization’s spokesman.

Golden said many people still attach a stigma to mental treatment. He hopes this clinic will help break down that barrier locally.

Two of the doctors are also licensed to treat mental illness, and they can give screenings for depression during regular exams, Golden said.

This endeavor started when the Pennyroyal Center received a $200,000 grant to start a primary care program. Ptaszek and his staff wanted to integrate medical and psychiatric treatment, he said.

This plays into the organization’s approach of treating “the whole person,” which also extends to housing needs, Ptaszek said. Golden said the mentally ill often neglect medical care because their mental troubles overshadow their other problems.

“It sounds grandiose to say we’ve saved people’s lives,” Ptaszek said. “But really, from their own reports, we’ve saved people’s lives.”

The $200,000 grant expires next year, so the organization sought new sources of revenue. It obtained a state license to practice primary care. Now it can bill Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies, Ptaszek said.

The Pennyroyal Center has a campus on North Drive and two offices on Hammond Drive, near Fort Campbell Boulevard. It recently shifted its substance-abuse services to a Hammond Drive office, which opened in the basement of a building at the North Drive campus, Ptaszek said. The clinic is moving into this space.

As of Monday, it will have four exam rooms, Golden said.

The clinic will remain open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call 270-887-6152.