Rogers Memorial Hospital

Why we do what we do

Since 1995, the Foundation has actively worked to provide financial support for patients in treatment. As a result, Rogers Memorial Hospital has touched the lives of more than 20,000 people who have used its inpatient, residential or day treatment programs … leading to many, many success stories.

The profile of the patients who come to Rogers Memorial is complex, drawing on all age groups. Many are just children, a few as young as 3. Nearly half of the children in our acute care unit are victims of catastrophic abuse - physical, emotional or sexual. Their stay as an inpatient may mark the first time in their lives that they have felt truly safe and surrounded by adults they can trust. Others are dealing with biologically based brain disorders like depression and anxiety. In many cases, the predisposition to the problem is hereditary.

Some patients look far older than their teenage years, often weighing less than 100 pounds because of an eating disorder. Other faces are perpetually in motion – faces of children with severe ADHD. Then there are the obsessive-compulsive types who cannot do simple things like shop in a store or sit down to eat with their families. Sadly, the risk of suicide runs high among those experiencing depression and is the number one reason people come to Rogers Memorial. It’s a hard struggle for those seeking to overcome a drug or alcohol addiction they cannot beat alone.

Gracie had wanted to be model thin and found she could not stop purging when she checked in to the Eating Disorder Center. She now has learned how to eat to live. She and her husband recently had their first child … a huge milestone for a woman who has battled an eating disorder!

Ellen is back on the job as the executive assistant at a successful local firm after three months at the Herrington Recovery Center. She credits her family doctor for suggesting Rogers Memorial (over and over again!) but says it wasn’t until she woke up one too many times in an unfamiliar place on Sunday morning that she realized the drinking binges that started every Friday after work needed to stop.

George – a high school athlete – was exercising obsessively. Exercising instead of eating, sleeping or even going to school. But through a combination of talk therapy (a special kind called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and a short course of medication, he’s got his life back in balance. He still is exercising … but there’s time in his life for other things now, too.

Today, Patty looks more like she was the head cheerleader at her high school than a suicidal drug addict. The pain of sexual abuse had ravaged her for years, when drugs and alcohol no longer dulled her pain; she began cutting her arms and legs. Through a series of inpatient visits, she has come to terms with the abuse. And her treatment plan includes medication for the depression that also affects her mom and grandmother. She’s in college now – with plans to go on to medical school.

And Paul, a retired CEO whose depression led him to attempt suicide - not once, not twice - but three times. Paul has worked through the loss of his wife and has learned how to enjoy retirement. He’s still seeing the outpatient therapist who recommended Rogers Memorial six months ago, but he also is seeing a woman he met at the seniors curling club, with the blessing of his two adult children.

Those receiving care are the lucky ones. Sadly, though nearly 20 million American children suffer from mental health problems, less than 1 child in 10 who needs help receives it, according to Foundation Board member Peter Lake, M.D., the child psychiatrist who also serves as medical director of the Oconomowoc campus of Rogers Memorial. Because of this growing need, Rogers Memorial has opened a new Child & Adolescent treatment center in Oconomowoc that blends psychiatry with adventure therapy. This is just one of the many innovations that make Rogers Memorial a leader in its field of offering inpatient, residential and day treatment programs for youth, adults and seniors.