Dr. Trip Gardner, PCHC’s Chief Psychiatric Officer, Receives Dorothea Dix Award
PCHC is pleased to announce that Vernon Trip Gardner, III, MD, PCHC’s Chief Psychiatric Officer, is the 2015 recipient of the Dorothea Dix Award. The Dorothea Dix Award is given to those dedicated to promoting recovery and improving the quality of life of people living with mental illness or mental disabilities. The award was presented to Dr. Gardner by the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center Advisory Board on Tuesday, November 17th at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center.
Kenneth Schmidt, MPA, President and CEO, states, “Dr. Trip Gardner has led the development of PCHC’s nationally recognized integrated mental health care services for over ten years. He has grown mental health providers embedded in PCHC practices from just one to about 40 psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, licensed clinical social workers, licensed clinical professional counselors, and psychologists. Dr. Gardner has been asked to speak throughout Maine and the US on this exemplary model of providing integrated mental health care. He is not only an expert psychiatrist and an inspiring leader, but an unusually humble, kind and compassionate professional who goes out of his way to care for his patients and colleagues. No mental health professional in Maine could deserve this award more than Dr. Trip Gardner.”
Dr. Gardiner received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating with distinction in chemistry, and his medical degree from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, followed by a Residency in General Psychiatry from Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Gardner has practiced in the field of psychiatry for almost 30 years and joined PCHC in 2004 as Chief Psychiatric Officer and Medical Director of Homeless Services.
Dr. Gardner is a champion for those struggling with mental illness and homelessness in our community and has worked tirelessly to ensure the integration of medical, mental health, and substance abuse services for people who are homeless. He has collaborated nationally with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and others, to advance this integrated model of care and innovations in best practices.
The Dorothea Dix Award was established by the State of Maine Legislature in 2005 to honor Dorothea Dix, a woman who championed the rights of the mentally ill in the mid 1800’s. She fought for humane treatment of the mentally ill in prisons and had a direct hand in founding 32 mental institutions in the United States. The recipient of this award must be a person or group with direct long-standing ties with Maine who has outstanding achievement in promoting recovery and/or improving the quality of life of people living with mental illness or mental disabilities.