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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BROOKLYN PSYCHIATRIC CENTERS RENAMES WILLIAMSBURG-GREENPOINT CLINIC IN HONOR OF THE LATE HONORABLE EDWARD S. LENTOL

BROOKLYN, NY—May 24, 2004—New York State Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol and his family participated in a ceremony on May 21 to rename Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers’ Williamsburg-Greenpoint Clinic after his father, the late Honorable Edward S. Lentol, who helped found the clinic in 1951.

“How proud I am that you have chosen to honor Edward S. Lentol who I remember talking to us—Edward, Gilbert, and me—about the need for mental health services,” said Assemblyman Lentol, recalling conversations he and his brothers had with their father. “Although others were also responsible for establishing the clinic, my father was relentless and pursued the resources, raised the money, and made sure it happened. He was really ahead of his time for wiping out the stigma of mental illness so that people could get help and function in society.”

Edward S. Lentol was trained as a lawyer, served in the New York State Assembly from 1948 to 1962, as a New York State Senator from 1962 to 1972, and as a State Supreme Court Justice from 1972 until he died in 1981 at the age of 71. After the clinic became part of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, he remained actively involved by presiding as president of the Board of Trustees for many years.

Assemblyman Lentol and his brother, Edward S. Lentol, Jr., recalled that the idea of establishing a community-based mental health clinic was revolutionary in 1951 and was met with community resistance. At the time, the brothers said, individuals with mental health problems were treated with lobotomies or were put into psychiatric hospitals and forgotten about. They credit their father’s forward thinking about the need for community-based mental health services to the influence of his first cousin, John Bianchi, who was then director of mental health for Downstate Medical Center.

Assemblyman Lentol has maintained his father’s interest in mental health services and is a supporter of Timothy’s Law, which is a proposed state law designed to guarantee affordable mental health services. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers.

“I have had the privilege of working with the Lentol family for some time and I am so pleased that Assemblyman Lentol is on our board,” said Dr. Pamela Straker, president and CEO of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers. “It is people like those in the Lentol family who help organizations like ours exist to serve those who are vulnerable.”

Marie Kelleher, director of Clinical Operations and COO for Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, began her career working in the clinic and fondly recalled Edward S. Lentol as a pioneer because he recognized that the community needed mental health services, and as a good person to work for because he was fair and supportive.

Myron Greenburg, administrator of the Edward S. Lentol Clinic, said his staff of 14, including 11 psychotherapists and one psychiatrist, provide 12,000 visits each year to a diverse population of 300 people from the community who range in age from 5 to 84, and 60 children in a school-based program at IS49. Mr. Greenburg said he is observing that children, younger and younger, are more troubled today and need more help. Yet at the same time that these pathologies are increasing, financial support for mental health programs is decreasing because of managed care.

In addition to the Lentol family, Assemblyman Lentol’s staff, and the clinic staff, others attending the celebration included New York State Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, District Leader Steven Cohn, and Vincent Abate, chairman of Community Board 1, who presented Assemblyman Lentol with a plaque recognizing his father.

Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, which was founded in 1907, provides borough-wide mental health services to Brooklyn’s most vulnerable residents through its clinics in Bushwick, Canarsie, Flastbush-Sheepshead Bay, Williamsburg-Greenpoint, and downtown Brooklyn and the borough’s public schools. Its diverse staff of more than 100 professionals makes more than 60,000 visits annually to adults, seniors, and their families. More information about Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers is available by calling 718-875-5625 or at www.bpcinc.org.

Edward S. Lentol, Jr., Dr. Pamela Straker, president and CEO of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, New York State Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol.