The Bridge Center board is scheduling time in the next few weeks for Recovery Innovations International, the center’s recently selected service provider, to visit three possible sites for the planned mental health diversion facility.
Noticeably absent from the itinerary is the former Woman’s Hospital complex on Airline Highway, once thought to be a top contender for the mental health diversion facility. Board chair Kathy Kliebert says certain stipulations won’t allow for its usage, but could not elaborate specifics prior to this afternoon’s deadline.
Regardless, representatives from the Arizona-based Recovery Innovations International will be in Baton Rouge from Sept. 18-20, says Kliebert, during which they’ll visit the Baton Rouge General Mid City campus, as well as the Baton Rouge Area Alcohol and Drug Center, also known as the “detox center,” on South Foster Drive, and Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge on Florida Boulevard.
“We hope to have a site selected shortly after visiting,” Kliebert says, noting more locations could be added to the list before the service provider comes to town.
Baton Rouge General—which has had some 25,000 square feet of unused space on Florida Boulevard since shutting down its emergency room in 2015—remains the frontrunner. Not only would the space require very little renovation; because the hospital still provides inpatient care, support services that would be utilized by the Bridge Center are already operational on campus.
But the other two sites have their own unique advantages; namely, they’re both already set up to fully service behavioral needs, a component Kliebert says “isn’t quite ready” at the hospital. However, neither facility is as large as BRG, which hinders flexibility and makes BRG all the more appealing.
Ahead of Recovery Innovations International’s visit, Bridge Center officials are in the midst of contract negotiations with the service provider—a process they entered last week, absent a protest from Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, the other bidder for the 5-year contract.
The center is expected to begin hiring for some 130 jobs in January, with an opening date tentatively set for March 2020.
Editor’s note: This story originally incorrectly referred to the selected service provider as Recovery International, a Chicago-based firm. The service provider for the Bridge Center is Arizona-based Recovery Innovations International. Daily Report regrets the error.
