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'Deal breaker.' Plan to convert old KGH hospital into adult mental health center crumbles

Tri-City Herald - 6/15/2022

Jun. 15—KENNEWICK, Wa. — A plan to convert a former Tri-Cities hospital into a bicounty mental health and drug treatment center has fallen through.

Owners of the former Kennewick General Hospital said they would only agree to the sale if the counties severely restricted how long adult psychiatric patients could be treated there.

The owner is LifePoint Health, which also owns Trios and Lourdes hospitals, and operates a 20-bed psychiatric hospital and other services in Richland.

And after months of negotiations, county officials said the restriction was a "deal breaker."

So Benton County is now looking to buy a different building in the Tri-Cities to house a one-stop resource center for people needing mental health or substance abuse treatment, Deputy County Administrator Matt Rasmussen told the Herald.

County commissioners still expect to buy the old KGH hospital for $1.6 million but haven't settled on what it would be used for.

"It is our opinion that the recovery center needs to be a one-stop shop for people suffering from mental health or substance use disorder crisis," Rasmussen told the Herald.

"It is the goal of Benton County that the recovery center, wherever it is located, and anything placed at the KGH building serve both Benton and Franklin counties, as well as needs in the wider region," he said.

The commissioners in both counties already have approved a 0.1% sales tax increase to pay for operating a new center.

As part of the joint deal, Franklin County contracted with Benton County to handle finding the facility.

But Franklin County officials have grown frustrated recently over the Benton County's decision to purchase the KGH building.

Benton County couldn't get the company to agree to allow it to hold adult mental health patients for longer than three days.

"I think they're concerned about competition," Kyle Sullivan, Franklin County's Human Services manager, recently told the Franklin County commissioners.

"To not be able to keep someone with mental illness in the facility longer than three days is a deal breaker (for housing a crisis recovery center there)," he said.

Psychiatric services

LifePoint formed from a merger in 2018 with the company that bought the two Tri-Cities hospitals the same year.

The purchase of Lourdes included Richland'sLourdes Counseling Center which is authorized to have up to 36 patient beds — a 20-bed psychiatric hospital and 16-bed short-term mental health treatment facility.

But according to Benton County officials, Lourdes sometimes doesn't have the staff to fill more than eight of the beds for mental health treatment.

That's when the counties decided they needed to step in and fill a gap in mental health and detox treatment for people in Tri-Cities.

There are often more mental health patients than can be housed at Lourdes, and people in crisis are often waiting in a hospital or jail for a psychiatric bed.

And the hospitals are often not able to offer psychiatric treatment, Sullivan told the county commissioners.

"The hope (with the recovery center) is that we wouldn't have to warehouse people in a medical facility," he said.

While Delvin and Rasmussen said they were committed to finding a new home for the treatment center, Commissioner Clint Didier said he wants a joint meeting with Benton County commissioners and LifePoint officials. The meeting was scheduled for June 27.

New location

For now, Rasmussen told the Herald that Benton County is moving ahead and is in talks to buy a different building to house adult mental health services.

Delvin said the county has about $10 million set aside for a facility, including money provided by the state of Washington.

In addition, the former KGH hospital may be used for, including transitional housing or juvenile mental health services, said Delvin and Rasmussen.

"Some programs, like child long-term, in-patient care, are in such high demand that there is a 90-person waiting list for admittance to that type of facility statewide," Rasmussen said.

"Adding something like that to the KGH building would be a huge benefit, not just for Benton and Franklin counties, but for the entire state of Washington," he said.

Mental health, drug treatment services

While the two counties want a recovery center to feature mental health and drug treatment, they have not settled on a provider for the services.

When the commissioners approved the sales tax increase, they agreed in March to create a joint committee to focus on picking a service provider.

This month, the counties finished choosing those volunteers, looking to include experts in mental health, substance use disorder, as well as people who have lived with mental health or substance abuse issues. They also were seeking emergency room managers, law enforcement and other community members.

Rasmussen said they're hoping the committee can start meeting at the end of July.

Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond, a longtime supporter of the recovery center, called for the public to able to more involved in saying what services they want.

This story was originally published June 15, 202212:58 PM.

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