State officials unveiled a new mental health hospital serving central Ohio on Wednesday, beginning the next chapter of an eight-year project that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called “a new era” for Ohio’s mental health care system .
The ribbon-cutting of the Central Ohio Behavioral Healthcare Hospital on Columbus’ West Side comes amid a growing need for mental health care and a dire mental health workforce shortage statewide and nationally.
“This project illustrates how, when you dream big, big things can happen, even in state government,” said Bob Short, acting associate director for inpatient services at Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services. , earning him a few chuckles from the audience.
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Funding for the project came from the 2018 capital budget under former Gov. John Kasich’s administration, thanks in part to incumbent Democratic state Rep. Adam C. Miller, who fought hard for the money in the Legislature and whose district includes the Hilltop neighborhood where the hospital resides .
“We are a community of sustainability and we welcome everyone,” Miller said. “So it was fitting to keep it here and say that the West Side is where you’ll find healing, support and a path to success.”
Behavioral Healthcare Hospital of Central Ohio offers enhanced security and privacy in a larger building
The new hospital on West Broad Street will replace the Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare Kosar building next door as the region’s state mental health hospital. That building will be demolished and replaced with green space. Its successor will contain 208 beds, 30 more than the Twin Valley facility, and stand at 270,000 square feet, nearly 100,000 square feet more than its predecessor.
The building includes eight patient units, each with its own intensive care suite for specialized care, as well as outdoor spaces, including secured courtyards containing walking paths and a basketball court.
Interior spaces include a gymnasium, art rooms, a meditation room, a social learning center and a chapel. There is also a courtroom on site for patients receiving court-mandated treatment. Landscape portraits line the walls in various corridors and large, secure windows allow natural light into each patient room.
Improving privacy and safety for patients at the new facility was a top priority, said Frank Beel, a registered psychiatric nurse and chief executive officer of Central Ohio Behavioral Healthcare. In the new building, 85% of patient rooms will be single-occupant. In the previous building, all patient rooms had multiple beds.
Staff and patients will begin moving into the facility in June. It is expected to serve 990 patients annually from central Ohio counties.
Hopefully a new mental health hospital will attract a new workforce
The National Mental Illness Association in Ohio estimated that there will be one psychiatrist for every 10,000 Ohio adults by 2022, and a Kaiser Family Foundation study found that the need for mental health professionals in Ohio is only 30% met a few percentage points more. higher than the national average.
The same Kaiser study outlined increased reports of mental health issues both nationally and statewide, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, so these shortages are being felt acutely.
The new behavioral health hospital will have more than 500 employees, including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, nurses, therapeutic program workers, among others. However, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director LeeAnne Cornyn said there are still staff vacancies.
“The governor often says, ‘If you build it, they will come,'” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday. “This is a state-of-the-art facility, not just in Ohio, but nationally. We feel very confident that this beautiful setting will help us attract more staff to provide the high quality care our patients need.”
shendrickson@dispatch.com
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