PUBLIC INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
Keeping you informed of events, news and resources concerning Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

VENTURA NAMED CHIEF OFFICER AT
MEMPHIS MENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE

BRINGS STRONG PSYCHIATRIC CARE BACKGROUND

NASHVILLE – An executive with more than 30 years of public heathcare management, including nearly two decades presiding over psychiatric and acute care facilities, has been named chief officer at Memphis Mental Health Institute. Larry Ventura will take over as chief officer at MMHI on October 5, 2003. MMHI is a 98-bed psychiatric hospital with approximately 326 full-time employees and an annual operating budget of $18 million.

“We were looking for someone with many highly detailed qualifications for this very specialized position,” said Commissioner Virginia Trotter Betts of the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MHDD). “Larry has a clear understanding of the importance of community providers and hospitals working together in order to facilitate a full continuum of care for people with mental illnesses.”

Ventura is currently the chief executive officer for Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital, a 90-bed acute psychiatric hospital in Huntington, West Virginia, where he directs 335 employees with a budget of $20 million. In under 18 months he has put the facility, which was in regulatory jeopardy, on the road to federal compliance by improving client services.

“I was most impressed with the dedicated staff at MMHI, and the impressive level of expertise on staff at the facility,” Ventura said. “Commissioner Betts and her department also share my vision for delivering quality options to the important population served by an acute-care public psychiatric facility.”

For 13 years prior to moving to Huntington, Ventura served as Superintendent of Bangor Mental Health Institute, a 170-bed acute and long-term adult psychiatric hospital and before that, served in upper-management hospital positions.