The Centro de Rehabilitación Psicosocial is the renovated Psiquiátrico Padre Billini that dates back to 1959. In the renovation, only the location at Km. 28 of the Duarte Highway is the same, as reported in Listín Diario. The 57-year old mental illness center is no longer a “crazy house,” but rather a modern rehab center for short, medium and long recovery stays.
The center primarily cares for homeless people, but the patient needs to be referred and a rigorous health assessment is carried out to rule out any physical illness before patients are admitted. The center cares for persons from 18 to 60 years old. Those that seek recovery from drug addiction are not admitted unless they have a dual psychiatric illness.
At the center, patients can participate in courses in arts and crafts, theater, literacy, and IT, gardening, hairdressing, barbering, and others. Those who work in cleaning, gardening, cooking and laundry services receive a small remuneration.
The center has 78 residents of which 40 were inherited from the old center and are homeless persons with no contact with their families.
Furthermore, to care for the mentally ill, the Ministry of Public Health has installed special mental health units in public hospitals. The units are located in the Darío Contreras, Francisco Moscoso Puello, Jacinto Mañón, Vinicio Calventi, Santo Socorro and San Lorenzo de Los Minas public hospitals in Greater Santo Domingo. There are also units in public hospitals in Barahona, San Juan de la Maguana, San Cristóbal, Santiago, Puerto Plata and San Francisco de Macorís.
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Listin Diario
11 July 2019