Nebraska Medicine has made a key hire as it prepares for the opening of the Adult PES unit in August 2020
With the Adult Psychiatric Emergency Services program starting this fall, Nebraska Medicine has hired Jennifer Sparrock to manage the unit.
“Jen is a seasoned leader with extraordinary experience as the lead of an Assertive Community Treatment team working with people with serious mental illness. As the former head of social work at Nebraska Medicine, she has worked closely with leaders across the organization and statewide. She is dedicated and highly skilled at running teams,” said Dr. Howard Liu, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry.
Sparrock spent 17 years with Community Alliance and the last three at Nebraska Medicine. She’s currently transitioning from managing the Social Work Department at Nebraska Medicine to managing the Adult PES.
“Behavioral health is where my heart is at,” she said. “My first job out of college was working with the Boys Town National Hotline, and I’ve had many great experiences in health care and community-based systems since. I’m excited to be a part of this new program.”
Sparrock said she started hearing about the Adult PES when organizers reached out to her to discuss the role of Social Work within the unit’s work.
“The more I heard about what they were going to do, the more I wanted to be a part of the program,” she said.
Currently, Sparrock is using her contacts from her decades in behavioral health to build the best staff possible and foster the development of strong community partnerships.
“What I’m doing right now will be very different than what I will do when we open,” she said. “Right now, it’s a lot of recruitment and program development. Once August hits, then we will be seeing and treating patients, and my role will switch to more overseeing the unit.”
Sparrock said the goal of the Adult PES is to provide immediate help and show the patient the vast number of community-based programs available to them, so the patients can continue to get help outside an emergent/crisis situation.
“We want to help people and then link them to what they need to be successful in our community,” Sparrock said. “We see the PES as a place where you can get help in a crisis and feel better when you leave.”
Dr. Ashish Sharma will be the Medical Director of the Adult PES.