OKC Mental Health Hospital

[Pete]

Press release:

********









OKC Mental Health Hospital Location Selected To Expand Critical Access To Care In Oklahoma
Monday, September 11, 2023

ODMHSAS announced today it will construct a new 330-bed mental health hospital on the Oklahoma State University Oklahoma City (OSU-OKC) campus. The hospital will be named Donahue Behavioral Health.

This new state-of-the-art facility will offer an array of innovative services that Oklahomans rely on during their most vulnerable moments. Care will include care for adults and children, referrals to outpatient services and the most acute care services offered.

The $147 million, 200,000-plus-square-foot facility will serve 275 adults and 55 adolescents daily. This increases ODMHSAS operational capacity by 100 beds, and includes an Urgent Recovery Center (URC). URCs increase immediate accessibility to services for Oklahomans experiencing a mental health crisis.

The Donahue campus, which will be located on the OSU-OKC campus near I-44 and West Reno Ave. in Oklahoma City, is expected to add approximately 250 jobs to the local economy.

The five-year economic impact of the new hospital to the OKC metro is estimated at $447.5 million, both in job creation, taxes, emergency room costs and homelessness.

“This hospital is an investment, dedicated to the people of Oklahoma,” said ODMHSAS Commissioner Carrie Slatton-Hodges. “With the support from Gov. Kevin Stitt, the Oklahoma state Legislature and OSU, ODMHSAS will deliver quality, efficient and effective behavioral health treatment services. Our staff is dedicated to serving the people of Oklahoma for another 100 years.”

The OSU-OKC location was selected based on ease of access, community support and the opportunity to draw upon broader workforce development partnerships and support resources.

“Oklahoma State University is committed to improving the mental health of all Oklahomans,” said OSU President Kayse Shrum. “The location of this new,modern facility will provide better access for Oklahomans and advance OSU’s One Health mission to serve the state and address our most pressing needs.”

The announcement of the new mental health hospital in Oklahoma City and the recent groundbreaking of a new mental health hospital near OSU Medical Center in downtown Tulsa highlight Oklahoma’s visionary progress in mental health treatment and care.

Coupled with the launch of the 988 Mental Health Lifeline, a three-digit lifeline that connects Oklahomans with trained behavioral health professionals, ODMHSAS continues to offer critical resources to thousands of Oklahomans each year.

ODMHSAS is focused on creating a system of care that reaches Oklahomans proactively and throughout their healthcare journey. The department will expand care by now offering another centralized location in Oklahoma City.

Donahue Behavioral Health creates the opportunity to explore collaborative health programming opportunities with the school.

“Medical workforce challenges, particularly in the psychiatric field, are a significant barrier to treatment access nationwide,” said Slatton-Hodges.

The Oklahoma Legislature provided $87 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to fund hospital construction. In addition, Oklahoma County Commissioners recently approved $1.5 million in ARPA funds for relocation, and the City of Oklahoma City and several metro philanthropic organizations have pledged their support. ODMHSAS will also contribute to the cost of the hospital through the sale of property in Norman, Oklahoma.

To receive ARPA funding, the Oklahoma Legislature stipulated the new facility must be located within 30 miles of the Capitol. That opportunity allowed ODMHSAS to explore sites outside of Norman, and soon after drew interest from nearby civic leaders.

Once complete, Donahue Behavioral Health will replace Griffin Memorial Hospital. Griffin Memorial Hospital is located in Norman and has long been the state’s primary mental health hospital, providing care for more than a century. The aging complex has outlived its functionality, Slatton-Hodges noted.

“We have been located in Norman for over a century, and made our decision based on what is best for the people we serve and the state as a whole,” said Slatton-Hodges. “Donahue Behavioral Health is expected to open in 2026 and will house the Griffin psychiatric residency program. The long-standing program was established decades ago to help address a shortage of psychiatrists statewide.”

Slatton-Hodges said construction of the new hospitals has been lauded by behavioral health advocates as a sign that behavioral health is finally being given the attention it deserves and a step toward overcoming stigma that for too long has hampered treatment advancements and access to care.

Donahue Behavioral Health honors Dr. Hayden Donahue, who served as Oklahoma’s first director of mental health in 1953. He is credited for revolutionizing mental illness treatment in Oklahoma.

The hospital was also made possible in part thanks to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Kirkpatrick Family Fund and Arnall Family Foundation.

[Pete]

OSU-OKC owns all the property outlined in red.

I'm assuming this new facility will be located on the site of that weird car track at the southern end near Reno:

[jn1780]

I think the weird car track is where OKCPD and OKFD do their drive training unless their going to move them somewhere else.

Edit: Maybe they already have. I just remember they used to practice tactical maneuvers there.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^
And where OSU-OKC gives Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) basic rider courses, advanced rider courses, "ready to ride" courses, precision driver training and an entire stable of other driving/riding courses.

[Martin]

the renderings don't give a great idea of where this is going, but i'd guess that this would go on the empty land just north of the precision driving course. that spot is around 500ft of frontage along portland and is around 1000ft towards i-44, which seems like plenty of room for this facility.

[AnguisHerba]

Yeah, the car track area actually gets quite a bit of use for gov't and private vehicle training, as mentioned by others. However, it is ostensibly the easiest part of the campus to replicate elsewhere.

[fortpatches]

the renderings don't give a great idea of where this is going, but i'd guess that this would go on the empty land just north of the precision driving course. that spot is around 500ft of frontage along portland and is around 1000ft towards i-44, which seems like plenty of room for this facility.

Isn't that land a (6 hole?) golf course?

[Dob Hooligan]

The map shows an easy was to reduce the westbound NW 10th to southbound Portland by possibly 25-30%. People going south on I-44 exit 10ST eastbound, follow the right lane to 89er Drive, go south to Black Gold and either go westbound to Portland, or continue south as it changes to Geronimo, and stops at Reno. Those options would include easy access to OSU OKC, the Police and Fire academies on Black Gold, and Geronimo provides quick access to Mathis and Bob Mills. For so many students and employees this would be an easy way to avoid crossing 3 lanes of traffic on 10th Street as they try to go south on Portland.

[stlokc]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I kind of wonder if a location in the burgeoning medical district - the cluster of hospitals and health care entities east of 235 and south of the capital - was ever under consideration.

[fortpatches]

The map shows an easy was to reduce the westbound NW 10th to southbound Portland by possibly 25-30%. People going south on I-44 exit 10ST eastbound, follow the right lane to 89er Drive, go south to Black Gold and either go westbound to Portland, or continue south as it changes to Geronimo, and stops at Reno. Those options would include easy access to OSU OKC, the Police and Fire academies on Black Gold, and Geronimo provides quick access to Mathis and Bob Mills. For so many students and employees this would be an easy way to avoid crossing 3 lanes of traffic on 10th Street as they try to go south on Portland.

Maybe, but it would be inconsistent. A lot of the fairgrounds roads are closed off or diverted for the various events at the fairgrounds (89er Drive has gates that are usually up). Reno > Geronimo > Black Gold pathway is doable, and I have had to take that a couple times due to wrecks at Portland x Reno.

Also, diverting that much traffic through would probably lead to needing to change some of the stop signs to street lights.

[Dob Hooligan]

Maybe, but it would be inconsistent. A lot of the fairgrounds roads are closed off or diverted for the various events at the fairgrounds (89er Drive has gates that are usually up). Reno > Geronimo > Black Gold pathway is doable, and I have had to take that a couple times due to wrecks at Portland x Reno.

Also, diverting that much traffic through would probably lead to needing to change some of the stop signs to street lights.

Every time I have tried to go through 89er or Black Gold over the last 5 years it has been blocked off by Fairgrounds with sand filled, orange walls. For not a ton of money they could make that work 365 days a year to lighten the massive load on 10th at Portland.

[fortpatches]

Every time I have tried to go through 89er or Black Gold over the last 5 years it has been blocked off by Fairgrounds with sand filled, orange walls. For not a ton of money they could make that work 365 days a year to lighten the massive load on 10th at Portland.

Gotcha, I usually haven't seen Black Gold west from Geronimo blocked off. But I also don't try it often!

The other thing that could help is to separate the ramps onto WB 10th by allowing merging earlier from NB 44 onto WB 10th. That would allow NB44 traffic to get over sooner and open the right-hand lane up more on WB 10th for people getting off SB44. Right now, there is only 75ft distance between the two ramps onto WB 10th. You could double that by changing the line paint and quadruple it without much road work on the I-44 overpass. (Granted, they just did repairs on that overpass this past spring/summer.)

[mugofbeer]

The state could probably use half a dozen more hospitals just like it to deal with all the drug addicts, potentially violent mentally ill, homeless, etc......

[king183]

This move has been years in the making and pre-dates Stitt. I believe I’ve posted on it in another thread a while ago. This general area has been targeted for a very long time by mental health groups wanting to build a concentrated area of services and behavioral health workforce development. The availability of ARPA funds accelerated what was a very slow moving process heretofore.

[Pete]

Norman lawmakers criticize plan for new psychiatric hospital
September 16, 2023
Finley Cook

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services announced Tuesday that it has selected a site at Interstate 44 and W. Reno Avenue on the Oklahoma State University campus in Oklahoma City as the site of a new 330-bed psychiatric hospital . Construction of the planned 200,000-square-foot facility is expected to cost approximately $147 million.

Following the announcement, Norman area legislators Sen. Mary Boren and Reps. Jacob Rosecrants, Annie Menz and Jared Deck, all Democrats, released statements critical of the decision to shift mental health treatment resources out of Norman.

“As a Norman delegation, we are disappointed that the services and jobs provided by Griffin Memorial Hospital (in Norman) are being relocated. “We worked diligently on communication between ODMHSAS and their employees regarding the potential move, which ultimately occurred on Monday, September 11, just hours before the department’s press release,” Boren said. “The four of us first received news of Griffin’s possible move in December 2022 by reading the same article that Griffin employees read in the media. We were frustrated to learn that this decision had been years in the making and that the people of Norman had had little input into it.”

As planned, the new Donahue Behavioral Health facility will expand critical access to services for Oklahomans in need of mental health care, the ODMHSAS said. It will have capacity for 275 adults and 55 youth and will include an emergency center tailored to the immediate needs of people experiencing psychological trauma.

The Oklahoma Legislature appropriated $87 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to fund the hospital. Oklahoma County commissioners also approved ARPA funding, and the city of Oklahoma City has pledged its support.

According to the press release, ODMHSAS will also use proceeds from the sale of land in Norman to fund the project. Once completed, Donahue Behavioral Health will replace Griffin Memorial, which has long been the state’s primary psychiatric hospital.

“We have been in Norman for over a century and have made our decision based on what is best for the people we serve and the state as a whole,” said ODMHSAS Commissioner Carrie Slatton-Hodges.

Norman lawmakers said decisions were made too quickly and in a way that was not transparent to them or the public.

“As of last week, the final word we received from ODMHSAS was that a final decision would be made in October. (The) press release, which was not sent to lawmakers, did not mention, in addition to Griffin, the relocation of the Children’s Recovery Center. “The handling of this situation is another example of the executive branch’s lack of transparency and communication with the people who make their decisions,” Menz said.

Rosecrants said the delegation has been trying for months to work with ODMHSAS to provide a new urgent recovery center, much-needed support for the Central Oklahoma Community Mental Health Center and expanded services for patients.

“Our priority is to maintain and expand mental health services in Norman and support affected state employees,” he said. “We note that ODMHSAS’ announcement indicates that they are relying on the sale of their own properties to complete the construction financing equation.”

Rosecrants noted that the city of Norman, Cleveland County and several nonprofit organizations are interested in the Norman properties.

“The Norman delegation will work with the Oklahoma Public Employees Association and other stakeholders to ensure that ODMHSAS keeps its word that every current Griffin employee has the opportunity to continue their careers serving patients,” Deck said. “It is important to remember that these decisions primarily impact patients. Any disruption to the Services may adversely affect those in need. We will continue to fight for patients, staff and constituents to whom the state government must be accountable.”

The Donahue Behavioral Health facility is scheduled to open in 2026, according to ODMHSAS.

[Pete]

OSU-OKC owns all the property outlined in red.

I'm assuming this new facility will be located on the site of that weird car track at the southern end near Reno:

The article in my previous post mentions "a site at Interstate 44 and W. Reno Avenue on the Oklahoma State University campus in Oklahoma City", so I strongly suspect this facility will replace the driving course and probably the small buildings along Reno.

The renderings seem to show the 5-hole golf course directly to the north.

[Pete]

Regarding that small golf course, it's part of their Turf Management Training program:

Teaching and Demonstration Facilities
Oklahoma golf course architects Tripp Davis, Randy Heckenkemper and Mark Hayes designed the five-hole instructional golf course.

The course includes natural habitats and four ponds that cover approximately three acres.

Toro, Rainbird, Legacy and Hunter are the major irrigation equipment suppliers for the turf management facility.

Warm and cool-season Turfgrass variety demonstration plots allow side-by-side performance comparisons year-round.

On-site pond management practices and plant materials provide education in sound environmental design and development.

Students, landscape professionals, homeowners and industry representative have access to the latest turf management practices.

A regulation-size soccer field allows demonstration and maintenance experience for a heavy-use turf setting.

And here is a link to the Precision Driving Training, which is available to the general public, businesses and public safety groups:

https://osuokc.edu/pdt/courses