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Spacone running for GI Town Council

Sat, Oct 21st 2017 07:10 pm
Dr. Celia Spacone is the executive director of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center (BPC), where she has enjoyed a highly distinguished 32-year career. Spacone will soon be retiring from her position at the BPC, and is eager to bring her unique set of skills and abilities to the Grand Island Town Council.
Spacone earned endorsements from the New York State Nurses Association and the Sierra Club Niagara Chapter.
Family is dearly important to Spacone. She has been married for 37 years to her husband David Pratt, Ph.D. He retired as principal psychologist from the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center and maintains a private practice specializing in children and adolescents. She is the mother of two (Justin, a mechanical engineer who graduated from RIT, and Andrea, a Ph.D. student at Fordham University in New York City). She remains active as a support to her elderly parents, who live in Niagara Falls (Carolyn and Nunzio). Her dad, at 96, is a proud World War II veteran.
As executive director of BPC, Spacone oversees a large organization with approximately 600 employees, serving 3,000 patients each year across four WNY counties, and responsibly handles a discretionary budget of over $4 million. As a leader, she has championed good patient care, innovation and collaborative problem-solving. The Buffalo Psychiatric Center has maintained excellent status as a Joint Commission Accredited Hospital and received numerous awards and grants. Most recently Spacone and the BPC were awarded the 2017 NYS Suicide Prevention Award for their accomplishments in making suicide a never event.
Spacone has always believed in giving back to her community and helping others. She has been active with the United Way Campaign at the BPC for ten years and chaired the United Way Campaign at BPC for two years, raising over $100,000 for local charities. Last month, Spacone organized and facilitated an event on Grand Island to help address the opioid epidemic. This community conversation brought together speakers addressing a variety of issues and perspectives, and a cross-section of Island residents. Spacone intends to continue to provide opportunities for education and support to families on Grand Island. She believes strong families are the basis of a strong community.
Spacone is a lifelong resident of Western New York. She grew up in Niagara Falls and earned her bachelor's degree at Buffalo State College. She went on to become a New York state licensed psychologist and earned her Masters of Education and Ph.D. at the University of Buffalo. In 2003, Spacone was named a Distinguished Alumni by the UB Graduate School of Education. She began her career as an educator in the Lockport schools, and it was tutoring troubled youth that sparked her interest in psychology.
Spacone believes in her community, and in her retirement wants to give back to the Town of Grand Island. This is her vision, in her own words:
"I see a Grand Island that has cared for its fragile, but beautiful environment. Our development needs to be planned, restrained and focus on preserving green spaces we all cherish. I want to see a healthy, safe community where we care about each other, and are connected. I see a town that makes walking safe and where we care about and look for solutions to social problems such as domestic violence and drug abuse. We can do these things while keeping a close eye on the budget and spending wisely."
To learn more about Spacone, visit her website: www.votecelia.com.

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