From left, former state Sens. Ray Rawson and Joe Neal and Gov. Kenny Guinn tour Monday the new Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Southern Nevada's public psychiatric bed stock increased by 47 beds today as employees and patients of the Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital began moving into their new home at Oakey and Jones boulevards.

By October, an additional 39 beds will be available.

And although the new beds will bring the Las Vegas Valley's psychiatric bed total to 217 -- a jump of 66 percent from the previous total of 131 -- they might not be enough. That is because the area's population continues to grow, and hospitals continue to hold 70 mental health patients a day.

But the new facility is a milestone for Nevada, Gov. Kenny Guinn said Monday before a standing-room-only crowd inside the hospital's gymnasium.

The facility was named after former state Sens. Ray Rawson and Joe Neal because of their efforts to allocate more funding toward mental health services, said Carlos Brandenburg, administrator for the state's Division of Mental Health and Development Services.

Guinn too has pushed for more mental health funding and crusaded for the $35 million Rawson-Neal hospital. In the past legislative session, he approved a mental health budget that was nearly $65 million more than what it was in 1999.

In 1999, the state mental health budget was $25 million. Today, it is about $90 million.

Roughly $64 million is earmarked for Clark County, he said.

Included in that money is 449 new positions within Clark County for mental health services.

Guinn said the Rawson-Neal hospital brings an opportunity for better treatment of the mentally ill. The hope is to get them off the streets, stabilized, on their medications and back in the community to lead a productive life.

Dr. David Rosin, medical director of Nevada Mental Health and Development Services, said he expects the average length of stay for each patient admitted to Rawson-Neal to be around 19 days.

"That's the kind of program we wanted here,'' Guinn said. "It's a transitional program.''

Among the hospital's features are an outdoor courtyard with basketball courts and lounge areas, a recreation and group room and a patient-run cafe.

Neal said the facility "exceeded our expectations."

Rawson said funding for mental health services in his 20-year career in the Legislature was always the first to be cut if the state was in the red.

"This one is here now, and it will stay,'' he said. "I don't believe government is responsible for everything, but I do believe it is responsible for those who can not care for themselves and should make services available to them. This is one piece."

State Sen. Joe Heck, who is a member of the state's Legislative Committee on Health Care, said that now that the hospital is open, it's time to keep at least half of the beds at WestCare open.

Last year, the Legislature allocated $7 million for the use of 50 psychiatric beds at the nonprofit organization.

That funding is set to expire on Sept. 5, Heck said.

"I hate to say this, especially now, but there are still 70 to 80 psychiatric patients in our hospitals. The beds here still aren't enough for them,'' he said. "We need those beds at WestCare.''

Heck proposes that the state's Interim Finance Committee allow the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services to go over its budget and spend $3.6 million to keep the 50 WestCare beds open until March 2007.

"Right now it looks like we'll get to keep 25, but I'm pushing for the 50,'' he said. "I'm hoping we'll at least be able to keep the 50 until after" the 39 beds are made available when the second phase of the Rawson-Neal hospital is complete in October.

Rosin said staff will start moving patients into the hospital today. The hope is to have all staff moved into the facility by the end of September.