Residents oppose mental hospital

Sito Negron

Monday, March 15, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

That's because although the Las Vegas City Council is to consider Wednesday the state's application for the $32 million, 150-bed hospital, the state has the power to build it even if council turns it down, according to the city planning department and the state's mental health administrator.

"The state wants to be a good neighbor and basically follow the protocol," said Dr. Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Development Services. "Let's say on the 17th, the Las Vegas Council says we don't want you to build a hospital here. At that time the governor has three options."

The options would be: to seek another site, which Brandenburg said would carry a higher price tag because the facility would need to be redesigned; to override the council and put the hospital in place; or to simply drop the entire proposal.

"The governor has made this a priority," said Mike Hillerby, chief of staff for Gov. Kenny Guinn. "We made a commitment to go through the public process and get input on how best to do this in that part of town. We'll see what the council does on the 17th and the governor will weigh his options after that."

The debate over the hospital has deepened in the past months. Proponents on talk shows and newspaper reports note the influx of psychiatric patients in emergency rooms, and the need for both inpatient and outpatient services to keep up with the valley's growth and the state's historic restraint in spending for such government services.

Neighborhood opponents of the project point to the cost of the building and the land, what they say is a negligible increase in hospital beds that would result -- a net gain initially of 47, over the current 103 at the existing hospital -- and the callous attitude of the state in dumping its social services in a block of land bounded by Oakey, Jones, Charleston and Torrey Pines.

"We already have to deal with what we have there now. That's not going away," said Sue Brna, a neighborhood resident who has been active in opposing the proposal, referring to nearby mental health and mental retardation services.

Councilwoman Janet Moncrief, whose Ward 1 includes the current psychiatric hospital, which is next to the proposed new hospital site, said she wasn't sure which way she'd vote.

"Do we need it? Absolutely. Every hospital within our city is definitely feeling this," Moncrief said.

Dr. Jonna Triggs, director of the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, said that a survey last year calculated an average of 30 people at any time are sitting in one of the valley's 12 emergency rooms waiting for psychiatric treatment.

However, Moncrief also said that the hospital is not enough, and she wondered if it might not be better to start over and build enough capacity up front.

"We're spending $32 million tax dollars to acquire in reality 40 extra beds," she said. "They're eight years behind what they're doing when they should be looking ahead."

She said in the future, when the valley population exceeds 2 million, the area will need more than one facility anyway.

Brandenburg said the situation should be looked at like a wheel, with the psychiatric hospital the hub. He said because the calculation was 30 people at any one time in an emergency room, boosting capacity by almost 50 beds would help ease the crunch immediately.

In addition, he said, clinical outpatient services are available in Henderson, North Las Vegas and East Las Vegas.

The new building also would create a better environment for patients and doctors, he said.

"We have an old antiquated hospital there, with five or six foot ceilings, no rooms for group therapy," Brandenburg said. "None of the professional staff have offices in the hospital."

The hospital safety also has been an issue for neighbors. Juanita Clark, board member of the Charleston Heights Neighborhood Preservation Association, who said she was told by a security guard at the nearby West Charleston library about three men who the guard assumed had escaped from the hospital.

"These three people were out on a very cold night, the guard stressed it was very very cold ... none had shoes," Clark said. The guard assumed they were from the hospital because "the place there takes their shoes from them," Clark said.

The guard told them to leave the library because they did not have shoes on, and they did, Clark said she was told.

That's the type of incident that scares Clark and some of her neighbors. However, it's also the type of incident report that angers Triggs.

"That is an outright lie (that the men were from her facility)," Triggs said. "We did not have three people escape. I'm not disputing those things happened. They're just not our patients."