Washington
DOC Secretary Takes Part in Ceremony to Honor Former Colleague
July 27, 2022
By
Tyler Hemstreet (e-mail)
Division of Social and Well being Providers
From left, DSHS Behavioral Well being Administration Assistant Secretary Kevin Bovenkamp, Nationwide Affiliation on Psychological Sickness consultant Jim Bloss, DSHS Secretary Jilma Meneses, DOC Secretary Cheryl Unusual and DOC Deputy Secretary Sean Murphy with the plaque commemorating Dr. Bruce Gage at a ceremony dedicating the Western State Hospital Gage Heart of Forensic Excellence to the previous DSHS and DOC psychiatrist. (Invoice Bungard, Division of Social and Well being Providers)
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Western State Hospital’s Heart for Forensic Providers was formally and formally renamed on July 11 throughout a dedication ceremony in honor of the late Dr. Bruce Gage.
Sufferers, households, workers and guests to the Gage Heart for Forensic Excellence will now be greeted by a customized signal made by the Washington State Division of Corrections and a plaque that acknowledges and celebrates Gage’s work treating sufferers and specializing in their optimistic outcomes.
Audio system on the occasion included Division of Social and Well being Providers Secretary Jilma Meneses, Division of Corrections Secretary Cheryl Unusual, Gage Heart Chief Government Officer Mark Thompson, Dr. Indra Finch (widow of Dr. Gage), and Jim Bloss, a longtime buddy of Gage’s from the Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness.
Gage, who handed away in 2021, was the lead psychiatrist at Western State Hospital from 2003-2008 previous to serving because the chief of psychiatry for the Division of Corrections from 2008-2021.
“Through the physician’s tenure at Western, he embodied all of the qualities of a profitable chief,” Meneses mentioned. “Alongside along with his experience in forensic psychiatry, he was recognized for being type, motivational, inclusive and collegial.”
“Dr. Gage set an instance for these he labored with by actually attending to know his sufferers and modeling a bedside method that authentically exuded compassion.”
Over the course of Gage’s profession, he acquired quite a few awards and honors, together with the Washington Governor’s Award for Management in Administration in 2010. The plaque affixed to the boulder simply adjoining to the brand new signal will assist maintain his reminiscence alive for future generations, Thompson mentioned.
“The boulder itself is a logo of the lasting and enduring legacy Dr. Gage has had and can proceed to have on our sufferers and workers,” Thompson mentioned. “It’s our hope that establishing an space for workers to sit down and calm down adjoining to the boulder will encourage us all to recollect his contributions every day as we enter and exit.”
Division of Corrections Deputy Secretary Sean Murphy and DSHS Behavioral Well being Administration Assistant Secretary Kevin Bovenkamp unveiled the brand new signal designating the constructing because the Gage Heart of Forensic Excellence. Unusual and Murphy, who each got here to DOC from DSHS, labored with Gage at Western State Hospital.