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Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Behavioral health comprises psychiatry and substance abuse services. Comprehensive services for both inpatient and outpatient needs are available through ECMC.
One of the largest chemical-dependency treatment centers in Western New York, ECMC is the only Buffalo-area hospital that offers a psychiatrist in the emergency room and chemical-dependency evaluations, both 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ECMC—a major teaching facility for the University at Buffalo's psychiatry program—is certified and licensed to provide electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), an accepted treatment for depression. All treatment programs at ECMC are certified by the New York State Office of Mental Health, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).
Services specific to ECMC are 132 inpatient psychiatry beds, including a 16-bed inpatient adolescent unit and an 18-bed inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit; 53 chemical-dependency beds, including 35 rehab (recently increased from 20) and 18 detox; a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP); three chemical-dependency outpatient centers (including one for vocational rehab); six extended-observation beds (EOBs), with one dedicated for adolescents; and an on-site outpatient psychiatry clinic.
