DAVENPORT, IOWA (February 19, 2025) — The Vera French Community Mental Health Center will host a ribbon-cutting to celebrate their expansion on Friday, April 25, 2025, 11AM. This facility is located at 1441 W Central Park Avenue in Davenport, Iowa.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, residents of the Quad Cities are experiencing anxiety, depression, substance use, and overall stress at record levels according to the 2024 Community Health Assessment. Access to mental-health services was identified as a primary concern. Expanding our Vera French Clinic at Central Park addresses the community needs identified in the 2024 report through:
- Enhanced Physical Accessibility For People Courageously Facing Mental Illness. Adding a front entrance featuring an indoor ramp, automatic sliding doors, and trauma-informed waiting room means that over 20 people per day, 100 people per week, and 4,600 people per year can use the front entrance of the building to access vital mental health services.
- Increased Lobby and Intake Space to Serve More People. To meet Vera French's new daily demand of patients and clients, additional clinical spaces, clear reception, and check-out flows, and a trauma-informed waiting room lay-out are needed so more patients can safely and effectively be seen, thereby maximizing the time and talent of our Psychiatrist and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners. This increase in patients served daily will ensure 40% more adults and children struggling with mental illness and/or substance use disorders are helped each year, including over 2,400 Scott County Iowa and Rock Island County Illinois residents.
- Additional Space Made Available for treatment of mental illness and substance use TOGETHER focusing on the whole person.
• Trauma-Informed Facility Improvements. The research shows that trauma-informed improvements in the clinical experience improves patient engagement, helps to reduce symptoms, enhances overall sense of well-being, decreases health-care costs, and improves staff satisfaction (SAMHSA, TIP 57, Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services).
For more information, please visit Vera French Community Mental Health Center.
