Psychiatrists Astian Ayoola, D.O., and Nina Bihani, M.D., noticed the same patients returning repeatedly to their emergency room for psychiatry care. Both hypothesized the patients lacked a support system and/or the needed transportation to complete the recommended outpatient follow up care the doctors, then Wayne State University School of Medicine residents, recommended.
“‘What if we brought it to them?’” Dr. Ayoola thought. “So that’s where the idea was born.”
After a year of working on logistics, including funding, grants, partner shelters and recruiting four volunteer attending physicians, the doors to the Healthcare Outreach for Psychiatric Excellence Psychiatric Free Clinic opened Oct. 28, 2023, at 211 Glendale Ave., in Highland Park, Mich., to serve as a bridge to further care beyond hospital to shelter and/or hospital to home. The clinic saw two patients the first day of operation. Just six months later, it has seen 50 patients, and counting, Dr. Ayoola said, who gave testimonials such as “Thank you for listening to me. It’s nice to finally be heard.”
The HOPE clinic is open from 1 to 5 p.m. every other Thursday, and is located on the second floor of a building that also houses the SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic.
“Patients see us for a maximum of six months, and then once stabilized on medicine and insurance is obtained, they are referred to another clinic such as Ardmore Clinic or one of the other community clinics,” Dr. Ayoola added.
The most common diagnoses are polysubstance abuse, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia.
“We are also able to give long-acting injections to patients to ensure medication compliance with schizophrenia. A big goal is to get the patients enrolled in Medicaid/Medicare so that they can get access to more wrap-around services and primary care,” Dr. Ayoola said.
Drs. Ayoola and Bihani have graduated from their residencies and moved out of Michigan since the clinic’s opening. Third-year Psychiatry resident Aubrey Neal, M.D., took over as medical director earlier this year.
Rebecca Klisz-Hulbert, M.D., ’04, Res. ’07, Fel., ’09, associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and director of the child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship at WSU, is one of several faculty who volunteer as an attending physician at the clinic, staffing the residents’ patients to ensure treatment plans are appropriate.
“The HOPE clinic fulfills a key part of the mission of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences by providing high-quality mental health care to underserved patients in Detroit,” Dr. Klisz-Hulbert said. “In addition to providing clinical services, the clinic reinforces our goal of training DMC/WSU Psychiatry residents who excel at providing compassionate, culturally-competent care informed by social determinants of health.”
For questions, or to make an appointment at HOPE clinic, email Hopeclinic@wayne.edu