Hospital to get first patients
March 14--Carolinas HealthCare System's Behavioral Health Campus Davidson, which drew opposition from some Lake Norman residents when it was proposed, is expected to accept its first patients April 7.
The community is invited to tour the $32 million facility and campus before patients arrive, CHS officials said, as the hospital was designed and built to not look or feel institutional.
"There is not a facility in the region where the building design is part of the therapeutic environment; the elements of light, nature, fresh air, open space are integrated into the treatment environment," said Martha Whitecotton, senior vice president of behavioral health services at CHS.
"The Davidson Hospital is an environment designed to provide treatment for mental illness, integrating all aspects of the mind, body and spirit in the healing process."
The facility will include 66 beds in 67,280 square feet of inpatient hospital space and a 10,000-square-foot medical office for outpatient services. Whitecotton said the hospital includes a gymnasium for exercise and wellness, a dedicated chef and private dining room, group space -- including an outdoor courtyard -- and private rooms.
The project architect is FreemanWhite and general contractor is Robins & Morton.
The acute care hospital beds will serve adults transferred from other facilities and possibly some referred by doctors' offices, officials said. Outpatient therapy and treatments will be available for adults, adolescents and children. The new facility will provide additional beds to CMC-Randolph's 66 beds, but the Davidson location will not have an emergency room, officials said. The two-story building will have the ability to expand if future need is determined and the state approves additional beds.
In addition to the 155 staff members that include physicians, nurses, therapists and recreational therapists, among others, the hospital will incorporate telepsychiatry, officials said. Having the ability to essentially video conference with off-site professionals increases access to treatment, as well as improves the timeliness that treatment is administered.
The hospital staffing model is also unique, officials said, as hospital psychiatrists and psychotherapists will work seven consecutive days on a single unit. Nurses and technicians will work 12-hour shifts and the overall model is meant to increase efficiency, communication and improve the patient's experience.
Davidson's behavioral health campus had previously been planned for hospital-owned property at N.C. 115 and Verhoeff Drive in Huntersville. But many residents objected to having a mental health hospital near their homes, and town officials rejected the necessary rezoning in March 2012.
The behavioral health campus came to the current 22-acre location in May 2012 and hospital officials closed on the property -- off N.C. 73 east of Ramah Church Road -- in February 2013. Again, some residents didn't want the facility. But rezoning wasn't required, and town officials welcomed the mental health hospital.
The campus is situated across N.C. 73 from Bradford Park and is part of the approximately 180-acre Davidson East property. Developer Standard Pacific Homes has plans for the nearby Davidson East residential neighborhood, which could open in November, according to Standard Pacific's Facebook page.
Other neighbors include the Summers Walk neighborhood, which is about a mile east on Davidson-Concord Road, and River Run, which is about two miles away to the northwest.
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