Skagit County broke floor this 12 months on a brand new psychological well being therapy facility.
Ken Hansen, director of county Amenities Administration, mentioned the undertaking is on schedule for completion by late July 2021.
The 16-bed analysis and therapy middle will present acute, short-term psychological well being care, providing stabilization and connections to longer-term therapy.
Sufferers will typically be delivered to the ability by legislation enforcement after experiencing a psychological well being disaster and can work with employees to plan for future care.
The undertaking represents a primary step in changing the 141-bed long-term inpatient facility on the grounds of the previous Northern State Hospital with a number of smaller services embedded in the neighborhood.
The Northern State facility is about to shut in 2023, requiring replacements within the North Sound area — Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan and Snohomish counties.
With just a few years left till companies there finish, Skagit County is behind on discovering appropriate replacements, county Commissioner Lisa Janicki mentioned on the groundbreaking ceremony in October.
“It does appear that a lot ought to have been carried out way back, however you possibly can’t look again,” she mentioned. “You simply have to start out.”
The $10 million undertaking is funded principally with allocations from the state, an effort spearheaded by state Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, and state Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan.
Wagoner has mentioned the state Legislature’s help for the undertaking is a recognition that community-based psychological well being therapy is preferable to massive, remoted establishments, as a result of it retains sufferers close to buddies and households, which helps with their restoration.
“Basically, we’re attempting to place extra services on the native stage,” Wagoner mentioned. “Clearly, what we’ve carried out with massive state establishments didn’t work.”
Hansen mentioned building has progressed on schedule. Crews have put in the inspiration and utility hook-ups to the positioning in Sedro-Woolley, alongside Freeway 20 east of PeaceHealth United Normal Medical Heart.
The county has but to pick out a well being care supplier for the ability, and can probably ship out a request for {qualifications} quickly. The supplier will probably have some enter on sure design components, so Hansen mentioned there are benefits to discovering a companion before later.
Ultimately, the county hopes to develop on the campus, including a 16-bed substance abuse therapy facility and creating the positioning right into a central location for behavioral well being care, county Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt mentioned in a earlier interview.
