Lakeland Regional moving ahead on $46M behavioral health center – The Ledger

LAKELAND As Polk Countys number of new COVID-19 has started to decline, Lakeland Regional Health is refocusing its efforts on building for the future.

Lakeland Regional Healths board of directors announced it plans to restart construction efforts on a Center for Behavioral Health andWellness located on its main campus. The project had been put on temporary hold to focus its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are so grateful to our board members for their unprecedented support of Lakeland Regional Healths efforts to expand behavioral health services for Lakeland and the surrounding areas, Danielle Drummond, Lakeland Regionals president and CEO-elect, said in a press statement.

The$46 million project was slated to be completed in 2021. But construction of the facility was sidelined this spring when COVID-19 began to spread throughout the county. Lakeland Regional Health suffered a $6.3 millionnet operating loss within the first three months of the pandemic.

Lakeland Regional Healthhas not yet broken ground on the new facility, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Audette. The projects estimated completion date has been pushed back to2022.

The plans, as unveiled in November 2019, feature a free-standingbuildingnearly 80,000 square feet. It will have space for 96 inpatient beds, an increase from 68 beds Lakeland Regional Health currently has for mental health services scattered throughout its existing facility.

Once completed, Lakeland Regional Health plans torelocate its outpatient child, adolescent and adult behavioralhealth services from its Harden Boulevard clinic to its main campus.

The addition will be designed by Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects. Lakeland Regional Healths goal is to have the buildings designed around the therapeutic and healing properties of natural light and the environment by incorporating landscaped courtyards between the buildings.

Behavioral healthcare needs are growing at a dramatic rate, Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz said. The City of Lakeland and Lakeland Regional Health partnership will provide progressive care and the capacity to meet these critical needs.

In Polk, the ratio of residents to mental health care providers is approximately 1,400:1.Approximately 25% of Lakelands population estimated at more than 110,000 is affected by mental health issues or substance abuse each year, according to Lakeland Regional.

TheCOVID-19 pandemic has furtherincreased need for regional mental health services. Alice Nuttall, Lakeland Regional Healths director of behavioral health, previously told The Ledger it has the potential to be the second wave of the pandemic.

In the first three months of the pandemic and shutdown, Nuttall said she was seeing an increase in anxiety-related disorders and depression among pediatrics and adolescents.

At the same time,Kirk Fasshauer, director of Peace River Center's crisis response services, said the center's 24/7 hotline was seeing an uptick in calls, particularly fromadults in crisis and domestic violence situations.

Lakeland Regional Health does serve as a Baker Act receiving hospital, for those individuals who may pose a risk to themselves or others. In 2019, the hospital cared for more than 5,500 Baker Act cases.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545.

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Lakeland Regional moving ahead on $46M behavioral health center - The Ledger