Nov. 4th – Susan Griffith, Associate Hospital Adimistrator, Eastern State Hospital

The Rotary Club of Lexington  held its weekly meeting Thursday, November 4,  at The Mane on Main at noon  and via Zoom. The program  featured   Susan May griffith, Associate Hospital Adminitrator, Eastern State Hospital. To attend via Zoom  please email, [email protected].

World class athletes withdraw from international competitions. Overdose deaths and murders skyrocket.  Airplanes make unscheduled landings when passengers attack the crew.  Locally, hospitality vendors ask abusive customers to leave and not come back. Everywhere we turn, mental health, or the lack thereof, is in the news. To bring us up to date on trends in mental health care and to walk us through the history of Eastern State Hospital here in Lexington, we’re pleased to have as our speaker this week Susan May Griffith.

Susan Griffith’s title, Associate Hospital Administrator at Eastern State Hospital, means she oversees all operations at the hospital’s Lexington campus on Newtown Pike.  She was also the managing administrator at the previous site and helped support the planning for and transition to the new campus.  She has served mental health facilities for more than 25 years with much of her career at Eastern State.

Over that time, Susan gained expertise in facility operations and safety, employee engagement, human resources, regulatory compliance, and performance improvement. For four years, she served as administrator for Eastern State Hospital’s former long-term care/acquired brain injury facility, which earned a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare.

Susan is originally from Casey County, Kentucky, but relocated to Lexington to attend the University of Kentucky, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in health administration. Susan and her husband, Ryan, have two children, Tristan and Nick. She’s also an avid baseball mom following her youngest with his high school and travel baseball teams.

In her presentation, Susan will highlight Eastern State Hospital’s 200-year history of mental health services to Kentuckians and give us a look at the new facility—how it’s changed and its impact on the community. We guarantee it’s not what you think!