Mold found in buildings at state psychiatric facility

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, June 11, 2001 | 10:49 a.m.

A potentially dangerous mold has been found growing in buildings at a state-run psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas, and some patients -- including troubled children -- may have to be relocated, administrators said.

The black mold has turned up in several buildings at the Desert Willow Hospital in the 6000 block of West Charleston Boulevard, said Christa Peterson, deputy administrator of the southern region of the Division of Child and Family Services.

A meeting is scheduled this week, and a consultant has been hired to examine the mold, Peterson said. After the consultant's report is submitted, administrators will have a better idea of how serious the situation is and how soon patients will have to be moved, she said.

The mold has been found in some of the buildings used by the Oasis program, Desert Willow's Level 4 therapeutic treatment facility, Peterson said.

The state's psychiatric facilities are ranked between Level 1 and Level 5, with Level 5 settings having the most supervision, such as a locked psychiatric ward.

Twenty-one children, ranging in age from 6 to 18, live in three cottages on the Desert Willow campus, Peterson said.

The Oasis program is unusual because it's the only Level 4 therapeutic treatment facility in the state that offers a home-like setting, Peterson said. If the children at Oasis need to be relocated during the mold removal, they'll likely go to a more institutionalized setting, Peterson said.

A task force composed of officials from the state's division of risk management, public works, human resources and the governor's office are working on a plan for removing the mold and relocating patients, Peterson said.

There are numerous molds that can cause adverse reactions in people, said microbiologist Linda Stetzenbach, director of the microbiology division at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But finding mold isn't reason to panic, and not all molds release hazardous toxins, Stetzenbach said.

Molds have been found in a number of public buildings in the past few years, including the Sawyer Government Building in downtown Las Vegas and the library at the UNLV campus.

The first step in getting rid of the mold is relocating people who use the space, Stezenbach said. As with asbestos, removing mold can release the toxins into the air, which can make people sick.

Symptoms can include headaches, nausea, muscle fatigue and a sore throat. The impact varies, although some who are exposed to molds becoming seriously ill and others experience few, if any, symptoms, she said.