Colby Center: Compassionate Care for Seniors in Crisis

Colby Center: Compassionate Care for Seniors in Crisis

For over 25 years, the Colby Center Senior Behavioral Health Unit has quietly stood as one of our region’s essential resources. As the only geriatric psychiatric unit in the North Country, this 12-bed program provides acute, short-term inpatient care for older adults experiencing severe mental health needs. Beyond its clinical role, Colby has become a place where healing, empathy, and human connection guide every moment.

A Legacy of Specialized Mental Health Care

The Colby Center was created to support adults 50 and older experiencing significant mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, behavioral changes, and acute psychiatric symptoms. Patients are admitted either through the emergency department during a mental health crisis or transferred from other hospitals when they require the specialized support Colby provides.

From the beginning, the goal has been simple and unwavering: to provide a calm, structured, therapeutic environment where patients can begin to regain control of their lives.

Over the years, the unit has adapted its programs to meet the evolving mental health needs of older adults. Today, the average stay is about two weeks, and every patient receives a personalized plan that focuses on emotional well-being, coping skills, and a supportive transition back home or to the next stage of care.



Many of The Colby Center’s team members have dedicated their careers to this program. Psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, mental health technicians, and administrative staff all work together to create an environment grounded in patience, empathy, and respect for their patients. Together, they offer calm in moments of confusion, encouragement in moments of fear, and dignity in moments when it is needed most.

Meeting Basic Needs with Extraordinary Compassion

Many patients arrive at The Colby Center with few or no personal belongings. This requires them to wear only paper gowns, scrubs, or clothing that is tattered and ill-fitting. The staff at The Colby Center have long understood how deeply this affects a person’s sense of self.

For years, staff purchased clothing for new Colby Center patients themselves. Their generosity spoke volumes to the compassionate care they provided, but it wasn’t a sustainable practice. Once the Adirondack Health Foundation found out about these kind staff members, they knew they had to help create a sustainable system to provide greater dignity for those in Colby. The Adirondack Health Foundation established a dedicated Colby Clothing Fund, ensuring everyone entering the unit can receive clean, comfortable attire, in their proper size, during their stay, and receive a set to take home at discharge. This program officially launched last year, with it’s first gift from The Chapel Hill Foundation.

Now the Colby Center can maintain a small clothing closet stocked with new lounge sets, pajamas, slippers, and socks in a variety of sizes for new patients. These simple necessities help restore a sense of dignity during an incredibly vulnerable time.

A Lifeline for Seniors and Families

For older adults experiencing a psychiatric crisis, and for the families who love them, the Colby Center is more than a hospital unit. It is a lifeline, a rare resource, and a place where expertise meets empathy at every bedside.

While the Colby Center has changed over the years to better treat patients, what has remained constant is the heart of its mission: to care for each patient with dignity, skill, and compassion.

If you would like to support the work being done at the Colby Center please visit: adirondackhealthfoundation.org/colby