Baton Rouge General Medical Center’s Mid City campus will be the site of a new crisis stabilization center for the mentally ill—provided voters approve a dedicated 1.5-mill property tax in Saturday’s election to fund the proposed center.
Baton Rouge Area Foundation Executive Vice President John Spain says leadership of the Bridge Center for Hope, as the proposed center will be called, and BRAF, which created the center, have been in talks with officials at Baton Rouge General and that the hospital’s Mid City campus is the ideal location.
“It has enough square footage, it’s close to law enforcement headquarters and it’s a medical facility,” Spain said today at a Baton Rouge Area Chamber luncheon.
Spain says no deal has yet been finalized, in part because the tax to fund the center, which will generate an estimated $5.8 million a year, has not yet been approved. If it passes, however, he expects both parties to reach an agreement.
“They agree they have excess space,” he says. “We agree we want to take that space.”
A spokeswoman for Baton Rouge General says the Bridge Center would be located on the second floor of the hospital in the former chemical dependency unit. It’s a nearly 20,000-square foot space and would be able to accommodate about 30 beds initially.
“The center would be a great fit for the Mid City campus, complementing our inpatient and outpatient behavioral health programs,” says BRG spokeswoman Meghan Parrish.
The Bridge Center is envisioned as a respite center that would help the mentally ill get the treatment they need and keep them out of jail or the emergency room. It will have a staff that includes physicians, mental health professionals, nurse practitioners and a pair of two-member mobile response teams, who will respond to calls for service from law enforcement and transport patients to the facility. It will also have a sobering unit, a detox unit and a longer-term respite center.
—Stephanie Riegel
