Countywide

An administrator has been hired for San Diego County’s Hillcrest mental health hospital, county Chief Administrative Officer Clifford Graves announced Tuesday.

Karenlee Robinson, 39, executive director at the Hawthorn Children’s Psychiatric Hospital in St. Louis, will join the county Nov. 1, Graves said. The administrator’s position was created recently as part of the county’s reorganization of the Health Services Department.

Robinson has been the top administrator at the 50-bed psychiatric hospital since 1981. Before that she was executive director of the St. Louis Regional Maternal and Child Health Council, a five-county organization.

Robinson has also held administrative posts with St. Louis state hospital and Cornell University Medical Center in New York.

County supervisors are expected to approve today the hiring of three consultants to help Health Department officials improve conditions at Hillcrest, which has been cited by state and federal health officials for poor management and patient care. The consultants are experts in hospital administration, nursing administration, program design and management, and medical records.