Mental health veteran Debra Patterson of Fort Myers has been promoted to Vice President of Quality Management of SalusCare, Inc., the region’s largest provider of treatment services for individuals with mental health and/or substance use issues.
Patterson has more than 30 years of experience as a mental health clinician and has been licensed in Florida as a mental health counselor for 25 years. Prior to her most recent appointment, she was Assistant Vice President of Quality Management for SalusCare, Inc.
“We are very fortunate to have someone of Debra’s breadth of knowledge and experience in mental health on our SalusCare team,” said CEO Kevin B. Lewis in making the announcement.
Patterson will be responsible for monitoring all compliance activities, accreditation needs, measuring outcomes, providing data to funders, and overall quality improvement at the non-profit agency.
Patterson joined the former Lee Mental Health Center in 1989 and served as Assistant Vice President of Outreach Services and Assistant Vice President of Quality Enhancement prior to the agency’s merger with Southwest Florida Addiction Services to become SalusCare, Inc. in 2013. During this time, she was instrumental in bringing electronic medical records to the agency.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of South Florida in Tampa and her Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology from East Carolina University in Greenville.
