BOARDMAN, Ohio – Akron Children’s invested in resources for Mahoning Valley families in 2024, including behavioral health and primary care services.
In September, Akron Children’s launched the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) on the Boardman campus. The IOP focuses on the short-term stabilization of adolescents ages 12 to 18 with anxiety and/or depression.
“The after-school program is for participants who need a higher level of care than outpatient therapy,” says Paul Olivier, Akron Children’s vice president of the Mahoning Valley enterprise. “The IOP helps patients stepping down from full inpatient care or the partial hospitalization program.”
IOP participants work on different skills each day, from interpersonal communication and regulating emotions to improving how they tolerate distress. Sessions include yoga to help participants focus on mindfulness and physical wellness, plus art and other expressive therapies to give them creative outlets. Participants usually complete the program in six weeks.
The addition of IOP completes the collection of behavioral health services on the Akron Children’s Boardman campus. The Psychiatric Intake Response Center is in the emergency room and it is for children and teens in behavioral health crises. Outpatient therapy, medication management, the IOP and the partial hospitalization program are in the Teegan Kamzelski Building at 6614 Southern Blvd.
In addition, Akron Children’s has mental health therapists embedded in most of its pediatric primary care offices. This makes mental health care more accessible for patients, reduces the stigma associated with mental health care, and fosters care coordination.
In August, Salem Regional Medical Center’s pediatric primary care offices in Columbiana and Salem joined Akron Children’s.
“These additions increased the Akron Children’s Pediatrics network to 44 locations – including 10 offices in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties,” says Brian Dinger, Akron Children’s vice president of primary care and school health.
Last year, Akron Children’s signed a 10-year lease with the Warren City School District for 6,300 square feet of space inside the Student Recreation and Wellness Center at Warren G. Harding High School.
“We are very excited about moving our current downtown Warren pediatrics practice on Mahoning Avenue to the Warren G. Harding campus in June 2025,” Dinger says. “The new practice name will be Akron Children’s Pediatrics at Warren G. Harding High School. In addition to offering primary care, we will provide school-based health services, virtual visits and athletic training services.”
The Akron Children’s Boardman campus this month is adding a food “farmacy” in Building A. “Families who screen positive for food insecurity during their medical appointments and meet income eligibility requirements will be referred to our food pantry,” Olivier says. “We will focus on patients with chronic health conditions including asthma, diabetes, food allergies and cerebral palsy.”
Plans are also underway to add an outpatient pharmacy in Building A, near the food farmacy. The outpatient pharmacy will open in the summer or fall of 2025. “The food pantry will help families combat food insecurity and improve their access to healthy food choices. The outpatient pharmacy will make it easy for families to pick up prescriptions after their appointments,” Olivier says. “These are just a few improvements that demonstrate our continued commitment to the health and wellness of families in the Mahoning Valley community.”
Through the support of individual donors, businesses and foundations, the Akron Children’s Hospital Foundation raised $1.84 million in the Mahoning Valley in 2024.