Panel to weigh new mental health unit

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Legislative Interim Finance Committee is to meet Aug. 12 regarding the proposal to spend $1.9 million in emergency funds to start a new mental health unit in the Las Vegas Valley.

The state Board of Examiners, led by Gov. Kenny Guinn, last week recommended approval of the emergency allocation to provide an alternative to overcrowded emergency rooms in the valley. Because there is nowhere else to hold or treat them, large numbers of people with mental problems are causing backlogs at area hospitals, officials say.

As of Tuesday, there were 59 people in emergency rooms in Clark County waiting to be admitted to state care but there is no space for them at state mental hospitals.

Carlos Brandenburg, director of the state Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, said remodeling and refurbishing work should be completed by this Friday at a building on the campus of the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Center, 6161 W. Charleston Blvd.

The building, formerly used for mentally retarded patients and most recently used for training and meetings, had to be brought up to code before it could again be occupied by patients. About $203,000 was spent on the renovation, Brandenburg said.

If the finance committee approves the allocation, Brandenburg said he has some current staff members who are willing to work overtime to help the new unit accept patients. He said other applicants are waiting to see if the finance committee allocates the money and then they would give two-weeks notice to their employers.

The state presently operates a 103-bed hospital on the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Center campus. Of those beds, 26 are for psychiatric observation, for which a person can be held for up to 72 hours. The rest are for patients whose average stay is 18.5 days.

The plan, Brandenburg said, is for those who are nearing the end of their stay to go into the new unit; from there they will be released. This will free up the beds for those who are now waiting in hospital emergency rooms for state treatment.

The finance committee, however, has only $3.3 million left in its emergency funds and has yet to receive the bills for the summer firefighting season.

If the finance committee is reluctant to release the $1.9 million because of unknown future demands, the mental health division has offered an alternate plan.

The division, with the concurrence of the finance committee, would hire an additional 50 employees to be financed with savings in the agency. The division would come back to the 2005 Legislature in February for a supplemental appropriation to carry it through until the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

The state is building a new 150-bed mental hospital in Las Vegas but that won't be complete until 2006.

Since the influx of mentally ill patients into emergency rooms, the state has allocated an extra $286,000 from other emergency funds to pay WestCare Nevada, a non-profit organization, to take care some of those who are filling up the emergency rooms. That money ran out last week, however.