SALEM — Salem Hospital has raised more than $500,000, exceeding half of its goal, following a transformational donation of $1.5 million from former hospital trustee Mike Davenport and his family’s Davenport Fund.

Last fall, the fund agreed to match 150% of a $1 million fundraising goal, to support the expansion of much-needed behavioral health services. The hospital is now halfway to its overall $2.5 million goal, which will fund services in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

“Our family is pleased to support this area of critical need and now we need the community’s help to get our fundraising across the finish line,” said Mike Davenport, who helps direct charitable gifts from the Davenport Fund, and who served as a Salem Hospital trustee from 1970-1991. 

“With the enduring and widespread toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioral health needs have become colossal,” Davenport said. “Salem Hospital has developed a wide range of innovative programs for patients facing mental health challenges and is quickly becoming one of the leading community hospitals in behavioral health services in the United States.”

The community response to the Davenport Fund Challenge continues to be exceptional. The hospital has received numerous gifts, ranging from $100 to $350,000, in support of the campaign. 

“Our hospital community has a history of loyal support that stretches back more than a century. We are thrilled, but not surprised, by this outpouring of community investment, led by the visionary philanthropy of the Davenport family,” President and Chief Operating Officer Roxanne Ruppel said. “Taken together, these gifts will enable Salem Hospital to provide the best possible care across our community, treating each patient holistically. We are so deeply grateful for all our partners in our mission.”

There has been a well-documented rise in the demand for behavioral health services in recent years, leaving health care systems straining to meet wide-ranging patient needs. The increased burden is felt regionally and nationally, impacting care for both chronic and acute conditions. 

“We need to talk about mental illness because it is at epidemic levels,” Karen Davenport said. “I am so grateful to my husband, Mike, the Davenport Fund Committee, and the incredible people who have joined our challenge, and that through this gift, Salem Hospital will be a beacon of hope for the countless families on the North Shore who are affected by mental illness.”

Salem Hospital has historically earned recognition for being at the forefront of community mental health care. With a noteworthy one-third of its 368 inpatient beds dedicated to behavioral health patients, the hospital has long embraced its mission to care for its community by providing fully inclusive and deeply holistic care. As a member of Mass General Brigham, Salem Hospital received additional support to open its inpatient behavioral health units in the Epstein Center for Behavioral Health in 2019, which include 30 child/adolescent, 30 senior, and 60 adult mental health beds.

“Salem Hospital’s Epstein Center for Behavioral Health is the largest inpatient behavioral health resource in an acute care hospital in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Mike Davenport said. “The commitment they have made is incredible and my wife and I believe strongly in supporting this exceptional facility. It is the best of the best.”

“Patients who suffer with mental health diagnoses need to be treated as whole people,” said Karen Davenport, who is personally open about her own experiences with behavioral health challenges and hopes to encourage others to support the intrinsic value of behavioral health care. “In the same sense that a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is chronic, so are many mental health diagnoses. They deserve the same level of commitment, compassion, and long-term management. Appropriate mental health care must be holistic and integrated into physical health and wellbeing.” 

Funds raised through the Davenport Fund Challenge are launching leading-edge care approaches in the community setting, including:

• The Bridge Clinic — Modeled after the successful Massachusetts General Hospital program, Salem Hospital’s Bridge Clinic is designed to stabilize patients with substance use disorders and transition them into long-term, community-based treatment. Funds are being used to renovate and update the existing clinic, as well as to hire a resource specialist to coordinate community services such as methadone access, sober housing, and other supports for patients and their families.
• Outpatient Psychiatry — Funds raised through the Davenport Fund Challenge enable the hospital to increase staffing for medical assistants in outpatient psychiatry clinics, and more effectively manage the medication needs of patients with mental health conditions. By expanding this capacity, patients can be managed in practices that specialize in mental health care, rather than in busy emergency departments, inpatient units, and primary care offices.
• Collaborative Care at the Bedside — Implementing a fundamental change in the way psychiatry consultations are conducted at the hospital, this approach dedicates psychiatric team members to integrate with inpatient medical and surgical hospital units. The psychiatric team works collaboratively with the medical team to more quickly address mental illness and care for patients more holistically, leading to better outcomes. This approach was inspired by a similar model in place at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. 

This three-pronged approach addresses a multitude of needs in a variety of settings.

“These options for successful treatment mean our community members never need to feel they must forge through the pain alone,” Karen Davenport said. 

“We are thrilled to be a pacesetter in delivering community behavioral health services,” Salem Hospital Chair of Psychiatry Mark Schechter, MD, said. “Taken together, advancements including the Bridge Clinic, Outpatient Psychiatry, and Collaborative Care at the Bedside programs are transforming community-based mental health care. Thanks to the Davenport Fund Committee and all our supporters, Salem Hospital is well positioned to provide truly integrated and holistic care to our patients in an area of critical need.”