DMHAS

NBC Connecticut Investigates has confirmed the CEO of our state’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital has resigned. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, or DMHAS said Hal Smith has stepped down effective immediately from Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown. The agency says Smith championed numerous initiatives improving patient care and safety.  It added he was instrumental in leading the...

NBC Connecticut Investigates has learned about a series of internal investigations of management at the state’s maximum-security mental health hospital. The state has shared few details of what it has been looking into at the Whiting Forensic Hospital (WFH).  A source from the hospital familiar with the situation told NBC Connecticut Investigates it may involve as many as four...

Seventy-three patients and 94 staff members of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, the agency said in a media release Wednesday. Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown has seen 63, cases in patients. The remaining 10 were at the Whiting Forensic Hospital. Department officials said 57 CVH patients and…

A patient receiving treatment from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has died of complications from COVID-19, the department confirmed Thursday. DMHAS said the person was a patient at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, and was taken to an acute care hospital for treatment of the virus, where they died. This is the first death involving an…

More than a dozen patients and over two dozen staff members at multiple Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services facilities have tested positive for coronavirus. State officials said ten patients and nine staff members at Connecticut Valley Hospital and six patients and 12 staff members at Whiting Forensic Hospital have tested positive for the virus. A staff member…

Governor Lamont said Connecticut results must stay the course and not let their foot off the gas in social distancing. The governor urged families celebrating the religious holidays this weekend to limit the size of their gatherings.

Over a dozen patients and more than 15 staff members at multiple Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services facilities have tested positive for coronavirus. State officials said seven patients and four staff members at Connecticut Valley Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Six patients and eight staff members at Whiting Forensic Hospital have also tested positive, according…

Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown will temporarily close its detoxification unit to free up staff to man an isolation unit for patients with COVID-19. The unit is currently treating eight patients, and the average stay is four to seven days. Officials expect the last patient to be discharged so the unit can close by Friday. Staff will be temporarily reassigned…