The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health is moving patients from an aging facility in Norman to a behavioral health campus in Oklahoma City that will become the state’s largest psychiatric hospital.
As soon as this week, 32 patients will be moved from Griffin Memorial Hospital to an annex building at the newly named Oklahoma City Behavioral Health Campus. The facility is located on a 13-acre hospital complex once owned by SSM Health.
The agency purchased the new campus for $18.5 million, and plans to use an additional $41.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to renovate it. Once complete, the site will have up to 197 beds for people with severe mental illness, an increase from the 120 beds at Griffin Memorial.
Greg Slavonic, the interim commissioner for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said the centrally located campus will give the agency room to grow, as demand for intensive behavioral health care in the state continues to increase.
“With more beds and the right technology, the right location matters,” Slavonic said. “It reduces the strain on emergency rooms, it helps law enforcement and helps families get efficient care.”
Officials for the Department of Mental Health anticipate renovations to the entire Oklahoma City Behavioral Health Campus will be finished by the end of the year. Then, the agency plans to phase out Griffin Memorial completely.
Oklahoma has a shortage of behavioral health workers, and Maria Chaverri, a spokesperson for the department, hopes the new facility will be attractive to recruits.
“Hiring anyone in the behavioral health and medical field is a very competitive arena,” she said. “I think we’re very excited to be located here in southwest Oklahoma City because we’re hoping we can be more competitive by location, and get more staff.”
Efforts to increase the state’s capacity for intensive psychiatric care are not new, but significant cost overruns forced the mental health agency to abandon ship on its original plan to build a behavioral health campus from the ground up.
At a ceremony unveiling the renovated annex building, Rep. Preston Stinson, R-Edmond, commended the agency’s decision to change course.
“Instead of allowing pride or inertia to dictate our decisions, we stepped back, reassessed and chose a smarter path forward,” he said. “We’re delivering a modern mental health hospital at a fraction of what the original project would’ve cost.”
Department officials said renovations to the annex were less expensive than anticipated. The building, which has bedrooms, a gym, cafeteria and administrative offices, was designed for inpatient care and didn’t require any structural changes.
Once patients are relocated, 60 employees will staff at the new Oklahoma City campus. Most of the employees worked at Griffin Memorial, according to the agency.