Omni House remembers Dr. O while trying to move on | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

But as Omni House officials, volunteers and clients yesterday dedicated the Glen Burnie clinic in the memory of the late Munir Ozdemir, they're finding the task of replacing the doctor daunting.

"He was the rock. We brought it from the original 127 clients to almost serving 1,000 clients today which is considerable in this field," said Lois Miller, founder of the nonprofit group and now chief executive officer.

"We are just trying to find enough doctors to take his place and make sure no one is being neglected. He was seeing 400 clients a month."

Getting enough doctors has always been an issue for Omni House Behavioral Health System and its small clinic off Crain Highway.

Dedicated to providing psychiatric support services to mentally ill and emotionally disabled county residents, Omni House faces continuing challenges in finding enough funding to run its existing programs. It also needs nurses for a program aimed at aging patients they hope to implement next year.

"We need people to watch over our patients whose needs go beyond what we can offer," said Ms. Miller.

Omni House is unique in the county. It provides crisis management, emergency hospitalization referrals, stabilization care after a hospitalization and programs to help those with mental illnesses increase their ability to function.

Dr. Ram Raheja works for Springfield Hospital Center, a psychiatric hospital in Sykesville. He puts in over 40 hours there in addition to the 20 he works at Omni house.

"I enjoy the staff I'm working with and the quality of care and of the patients is high," said Dr. Raheja. "I want to help the people."

He started part-time work at Omni House in 2004, and got to know his predecessor.

"Dr. O was a great man. He was a big man. After his death there was a void left, and I'm just trying to fill that. But I'm not trying to replace him," Dr. Raheja said.

Dr. Ozdemir was on the staff at the old Crownsville Hospital Center for 27 years, including 15 years as a unit director and one year as clinical director.

Dr. Orzdemir retried from private practice in 1981 but in 1991 he began working again full-time at Omni House.

At yesterday's dedication ceremony Ms. Miller joked with people about how Dr. Orzdemir dressed and said it reminded her of the Tony Soprano character from the HBO series, "The Sopranos."

"Dr. O was a full-time doctor who worked under scale for many years," said Ms. Miller.

"We have to compete with Baltimore and Washington, which can pay much more than we can so we struggle to find doctors."

The clinic gets most of its money from patient fees and the doctors they do have are getting paid a little under scale by Ms. Miller's estimation.

"Money is always an issue. Just trying to get enough to do the things we want to do," Ms. Miller said.

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For information on Omni House services, visit www.OmniHouse.org or call 410-768-6777.