Story and Video: Northwood Expands Psychiatric Care With Addition Of Derreberry
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The state of West Virginia sits dead last in the United States for psychiatrists per capita, said Northwood Health Systems CEO Jeremy Sagun. His organization is doing its part to reverse this disappointing statistic by adding a second psychiatrist to the team.
Northwood announced the hiring of Dr. Todd Derreberry, a board certified adult and geriatric psychiatrist, which will allow the organization to see more people quicker across Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties.
“I don’t think I have ever been this excited with starting a new job,” Derreberry said. “I’m a West Virginia native … and I really just wanted to come back to my home state and help the residents here with mental health care.”
Derreberry grew up in Chesapeake, a town south of Charleston along the Kanawha River. He earned both his undergraduate degree and medical degree at Marshall University and completed his residency at Wake Forest Baptist Health, where he served as chief resident. He served a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and ran a private practice in Clemmons, North Carolina, before returning to the Mountain State.
“I think I bring a lot of experience in the time I have been working in this field,” Derreberry said. “I think my skillset matches up really well with the need here to provide comprehensive services for psychiatric needs.”
Derreberry added he’s overjoyed to begin work at Northwood, an organization he said truly values the people it’s entrusted to care for.
“I’ve never worked somewhere where I have genuinely felt like everyone was pulling the rope in the same direction, and everybody truly cared about what’s best for the patients,” he said.
Sagun is just as eager to bring Derreberry into the fold. From the time the two sides first started discussing Derreberry’s return to West Virginia, Sagun felt it was a great match.
“We knew that he’d be excellent to use his knowledge and experience and training for the folks in this region who desperately need it,” Sagun said. “We can see more people. We can see more people faster and with less wait times. We are very excited to offer that.”