Pleas made for funding of mental health center

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The number of people who need mental treatment is increasing in the emergency wards of Clark County hospitals, and the state needs a $30.3 million psychiatric hospital in Southern Nevada to relieve the crowding, the boss of the state's mental health services said.

Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of the state Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, told the state Public Works Board Thursday that there is a "real crunch" in providing services to the growing population in the Las Vegas area.

It was the second day the board, which is responsible for putting together recommendations for the state's construction program for the next two years, heard pleas for money from state agencies.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has already pledged $15 million for the psychiatric hospital, and it is Brandenburg's top-rated construction item in his division and in the state Department of Human Resources.

At least one board member -- Renny Ashleman of Las Vegas -- agreed. He said there is an "enormous cost" in keeping mental patients in emergency rooms.

"We're talking thousands of dollars a day," he said.

The board heard requests for $589.5 million in construction projects. Of that total, $378.1 million would come from state funds.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux, a member of the board, said there was only $74 million available in the next two years in the state's borrowing ability to finance building project. But he said the board may decide to phase the projects over a three-year period that would allow an additional $73 million to be spent.

That plan would have to be approved by the 2003 Legislature.

The board will return Sept. 17 to make its recommendations to Guinn for inclusion in his budget to the 2003 Legislature.

Brandenburg recommended a new 150-bed hospital at the state's Charleston and Jones boulevards location in Las Vegas. It would have 120 beds for acute psychiatric patients and 30 beds for patients under observation.

The present hospital is approved for 77 beds with 26 additional beds for patients under observation -- people with such problems as immediate suicide tendencies, who may be able to be released before 72 hours if they are deemed recovered.

Brandenburg said it is presently staffed for 68 beds and for 20 observation slots. He said he is going to ask Guinn for additional staff to go to full capacity.

During the past four months the average number of patients waiting daily in emergency rooms in Las Vegas for admission to the mental hospital has been 13. The average wait before transfer to state care has been 54 hours, Brandenburg said.

Private hospitals in Las Vegas and nationwide have been closing their mental facilities because care of such patients is not lucrative, Brandenburg said.

"We're the safety net to serve the mentally ill," he said.

If the new state hospital is built, Brandenburg said, the present facility might be turned into a center to care for people with dementia and Alzheimer's. Such patients are now being shipped out of state.

But Brandenburg said the present hospital has been "a real nightmare." Inspectors have listed 38 life-safety deficiencies that must be corrected.