Vegas hospital expands mental health units
Montevista Hospital on Monday held an open house for a $7 million expansion that will help reduce the need to send juveniles out of state for psychiatric residential treatment.
The expansion will also provide some relief to area emergency rooms holding mental health patients they are ill-equipped to treat, hospital officials said.
The 36,000-square-foot expansion includes 48 psychiatric residential treatment beds for boys and girls 12 to 17 years old. It also includes a 12-bed unit for adult chemical dependency and a second 12-bed unit for adult mental health, said Jim Shaheen, president of Strategic Behavioral Health, owner of Montevista Hospital and Red Rock Behavioral Health Hospital in Las Vegas.
“We are happy to be here and be meeting this need,” he said.
The Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services and the Clark County Department of Family Services often have a need to send children out of state for specialized residential treatment.
As of Aug. 19, Juvenile Justice Services had 25 youth in out-of-state facilities, said John “Jack” Martin, director for the county’s Juvenile Justice Services. Some of the states include Montana, Alabama and Utah among others.
Family Services has nine children in out-of-state residential treatment centers, according to Kristi Jourdan, Family Services spokeswoman.
Desert Willow Treatment Center, with 58 beds, is the only public hospital currently offering residential treatment for youth in Clark County
Clark County Family Court Judge William Voy, who had been advocating for these services, said over the years there have been people who have expressed an interest in building a residential treatment facility in Southern Nevada.
Strategic Behavioral Health was one of those who expressed an interest.
“But then they came back and they came back,” he said during the ceremony. “And I really want to thank you for putting your money where your mouth is because no one’s done that.”
The residential treatment beds at Montevista will be opened in phases and hospital officials expect to open 10 to 12 of those beds next week, Shaheen said. The adult mental health beds will open immediately.
It will take time to hire all the staff needed for the expansion to be at full capacity, and to provide training, he said. That will take about a year.
About 100 employees will be needed to operate the expansion, and some have been hired already, Shaheen said.
Martin said his clinical director and Voy have been working closely with the hospital. Many of the children who need to be sent out of state are juveniles who sexually act out and have developmental issues.
“We are not going to interrupt children in placement now, but moving forward with new kids, I’m hoping that Montevista will be a viable option,” Martin said.
The local residential treatments will lead to better outcomes for children and families in Clark County, Voy said.
But the expansion will also help those people showing up to local emergency rooms when they are experiencing a mental health crisis.
“The emergency room is not a good place for someone with mental health” issues, Shaheen said.
The hospital hopes to break ground on another 48-bed expansion for mental health for senior citizens in October 2015, with an opening date in October 2016, he said. That expansion will also bring more jobs.
“We have had to turn patients away from time to time” at Red Rock Behavioral Health Hospital, Shaheen said.
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro.
