By Wayne Gates
The Georgetown Behavioral Hospital is holding an open house and job fair on Nov. 7.
The event runs from 10 am until 6 pm, and visitors to the hospital will be able to discuss current and future employment opportunities and look around at the renovations to the building.
“There is a lot going on behind the scenes. We are very excited because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now,” said Administrator Art Owens.
Owens said that the next step in the process of opening the hospital is an inspection by the Ohio Department of Mental Health.
“We are waiting for them to come in and give us the final OK to get a temporary license to begin the first round of patient care,” he said.
After that, the hospital is required to treat 30 patients and turn the records over to state and federal regulators for inspection. Owens said that he hopes that the initial round of patients will begin treatment within 30 days.
The plan is to treat about five patients at a time, which will take about six months.
“Once those 30 patients have gone through the program, we will call the state and federal government back in to review our performance. If everything looks good, we will receive full licensure,” said Owens.
He added that the hospital hopes to fully open with approximately 50 patients and 150 employees around May or June of next year.
“We are excited about bringing good, high paying jobs to the community. It’s just a matter of getting through the regulatory process and then we will be able to move forward and continue to be a valued community partner,” said Owens.
Right now, there are about ten people on staff in mostly management positions, who are spending time developing procedures and getting training.
“We are sending people to other facilities to learn so the directors will know how to train their staff,” said Director of Human Resources Aletha Angelus.
As far as getting ready for the initial round of patient care, Angelus said “We need four RN’s right now, two night nurses and two night supervisors to cover the patients that we will have as the regulatory process continues.”
Angelus said that the hospital is looking for a Kitchen Manager and dietary cook as well.
She said that she hoped that lots of people with varied experience will attend the job fair.
“Once the patient census grows, staffing will grow with it. The goal is to get people on a list where we can call them as the need opens up. We expect many of those positions to open into fulltime jobs,” Angelus said.