FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairwinds—Nantucket’s Counseling Center Hires Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

Increased Psychiatric Services Now Available to Nantucket

[Nantucket, MA, December 7, 2021] Fairwinds is proud to announce that, thanks to generous grant funding from the Community Foundation of Nantucket and a large individual donation, it has hired a part-time psychiatric nurse practitioner. Joy Brown MSN, APRN, joins the agency to support its ability to provide medication management, streamline the collaboration between Fairwinds and the Nantucket Cottage Hospital regarding patient care and med management.

For sixty years, Fairwinds’ mission has been to provide professional behavioral health services to community members who need them, regardless of barriers. The Covid-19 pandemic increased the number of community members who are under- or unemployed, experiencing economic stress, and struggling to find stable housing. Fairwinds Medical Director Dr. Dominic Maxwell is the only triple board-certified psychiatrist operating on the island. His hours increased this last year from twenty-four to thirty-two a month. Dr. Dianne Coscia, a behavioral pediatrician, prescribes and provides medication management for children on a part-time basis. With the addition of Joy Brown to its staff, Fairwinds’ psychiatric hours will now top forty per week.

Joy Brown brings experience as an outpatient provider at a Tennessee community mental health clinic treating and providing medication management to children, adults, and families. Joy has a strong understanding of the whole healthcare landscape as her professional history includes numerous fields including family practice, ICU, psychiatry, cardiology, surgery, and urgent care. Joy has over forty years of history on Nantucket, and splits her time between Chattanooga, TN and the island.

Nantucket is seeing demand rise for the whole constellation of psychiatric services. Having a psychiatric NP available on Nantucket is something the hospital and Fairwinds are in agreement about. In a reciprocal relationship with the primary care physicians (PCPs), Fairwinds releases stable med management clients to the physicians for psychopharmacology maintenance. As the agency’s psychiatric staff discharges clients to them, Fairwinds’ ability to receive more referrals from the PCPs increases. This means that more people will have access to psychiatric care.

By hiring Joy Brown and thus expanding its ability to provide psychopharmacology services on Nantucket, Fairwinds increases its impact as a participant in a community of care providers working together toward a common goal of wellness for the island’s residents.

For more information, please reach out to Vanessa Park, Fairwinds Marketing and Communications Director / vpark@fairwindscenter.org 518-929-4530