Jackson Dempsey

Jackson Dempsey worked at Josephine County Mental Health from 1989 to 2002. During the time he worked at JCMH Dr. Dempsey served as a staff psychiatrist and later as Medical Director, supervising several nurse practitioners and three psychiatrists. Patients, primarily those with more severe forms of mental illness, were seen by Dr. Jackson Dempsey at the main clinic in Grants Pass, at a satellite clinic in Cave Junction and at the long term facility Hugo Hills.

During his tenure at Josephine County Mental Health, Jackson Dempsey continued the practice of holding a drop-in clinic for those with urgent needs, and expanded it to twice a week. This allowed a much larger number of patients to be followed while at the same time decreasing the risk of hospitalization. As a consequence of these and other measures, crisis were averted, fewer patients were hospitalized, and the costs to the county decreased. The opening of the Crisis Resolution Center, at which psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, nurses, case workers and ancillary staff worked with patients at risk of hospitalization due to exacerbation of their mental illness, played an important role in the decreased utilization of the inpatient unit at RVMC in Medford, Oregon.

Setting up a Clozaril clinic in 1991 for the most severely ill patients, refractory to treatment and suffering from chronic psychosis and mood disturbance; patients at high risk of self harm, suicide and hospitalization. Clozaril proved to be an invaluable tool for improving the quality of life for patients that had previously had no hope for the alleviation of their symptoms,since none of the available treatments were effective and side effects of the other medications were often very difficult to tolerate. Though Clozaril itself is a medication with many possible side effects, some of which are dangerous or life threatening, it is the only medication effective in treatment resistant schizophrenia and has been found to increase life span, compared to no treatment or treatment with other medications.