St. Luke’s Hospital and The Center of Behavioral Medicine cordially invite the community to attend a holiday tea and portrait unveiling where nationally renowned and local artist, Richard Christian Nelson’s depiction of Robert Ratcliffe, MD, the founding director of The Center of Behavioral Medicine, will be presented.

Psychiatrist Dr. Ratcliffe “semi-retired” recently after 17 years of service as medical director of St. Luke’s Hospital’s Center of Behavioral Medicine. During his medical career, Dr. Ratcliffe made many contributions to the mental health and wellness of Polk County. He served as the staff psychiatrist for the Rutherford-Polk Area Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse program from 1997 until the early 2000s. He served as the secretary and treasurer of the executive committee of St. Luke’s Hospital, conducted various workshops in the area of mental health and received numerous awards. Dr. Ratcliffe has published several research articles during his career in mental health, and in 2011, he was awarded the Norman Boyer Award in recognition of his dedicated service to the care and treatment of people with mental illness.

During his tenure at St. Luke’s Hospital, Dr. Ratcliffe will always be remembered as a key figure in mental health services for Polk County including bringing geriatric-psychiatric inpatient services for adults age 55 and over. The St. Luke’s Hospital Center of Behavioral Medicine is a 10-bed facility to diagnose and treat such diseases as Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression, manic depression, situational and adjustment problems.

The public is invited to join St. Luke’s in honoring Dr. Ratcliffe for his leadership of The Center of Behavioral Medicine. The holiday tea will be held Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 2 p.m. in the St. Luke’s Hospital library. Call 828-894-2408 to let organizers know you plan to attend.

– article submitted by Jennifer Wilson