OGDENSBURG – Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center (CHMC) has announced the opening of the Elizabeth May Duvall Children & Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit.

The unit is named after Elizabeth May Duvall, an educator and a passionate advocate for children who passed too soon at the age of 34 in 2020. The May and Duvall families have chosen to honor her for her work in education and children's good. This unit will continue her work with youth, support their families in need, and provide a better future for the children of the North Country.

"I am very excited that we are here today to open the Children and Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit. This has been a long time coming. In the 1980's Dr. Severson, a pediatrician who served our community, would regularly bring up the issue of the need for such a unit in our community hospital," said Sandra Lyons, CHMC Board Chair, during her remarks at the unit's opening celebration, "He told us that he had patients who needed a respite from the situation that they are in. They didn't need the long-term care that was available at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center. His patients needed professionals to assess their needs and teach them coping skills. Now, 35 years later, we have that unit."

"Liz (Elizabeth May Duvall) lived life large," stated Richard Duvall, CHMC CEO and husband to the late Elizabeth May Duvall, during his tribute, "She loved working with and for children. Liz would have been so excited about this program. Liz cared deeply about children and families in crisis. If any of her students were placed at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center, she would take the time to visit them there with their favorite meal from McDonald's to let them know they were not alone. Naming this unit after Liz is our way of continuing to share her light with those that need it."

The evening culminated in the May Duvall Children & Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit tours for those in attendance. It is a 12-bed secure, inpatient acute psychiatric unit serving patients ages 5-17 years old. The unit officially opened to patients on Monday, April 4.