Good Shepherd Hospital lays off six counselors

The layoff of six behavioral health counselors at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital near Lake Barrington was triggered by a temporary reduction in the unit's patient capacity and there is no plan for further cuts in the unit, hospital officials say.

The counselors were laid off late last week, the ultimate result of the hospital's losing two of the four certified psychiatrists who run the behavioral health care unit, Good Shepherd's Director of Communications Mike Deering said.

One of the psychiatrists left the hospital altogether, while the other began a year's leave of absence, Deering said.

Because of the oversight role the unit's psychiatrists play, the capacity of behavioral health patients had to be reduced from 14 to six.

This brought about the painful realization that the counselor staff which works under the psychiatrists was too large for the number of patients the hospital was accepting, Deering said.

"We had some head count reduction, just to align staffing to volume," he said. "This is painful to us. We didn't have recession-related layoffs last year."

While it's difficult to say when the hospital's number of psychiatrists might return to normal, it's clearly not just around the corner, Deering said. Even if the paperwork started tomorrow for a new applicant, it would take months before they were certified and able to start work.

Also crystal clear was that the same number of patients couldn't be overseen by just two doctors.

"It's difficult to have a treatment unit run by just two doctors when the hospital's doors never close," he said.

Even with the number of psychiatrists cut in half, the rest of the staff hasn't been. While six counselors have been laid off, the unit's staffing was between 20 and 30 people, including counselors, registered nurses and other workers.

Deering emphasized that there have been no discussions to close the unit. He said such plans would have to be shared and discussed with state officials.

Deering said there is still capacity in the behavioral health units at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove that can be used in cases of patient overflow at Good Shepherd. All of the hospitals have the same ownership.