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Published: 2022-08-15 13:26:00 Updated: 2022-08-15 15:43:25
Posted August 15, 2022 1:26 p.m. EDT Updated August 15, 2022 3:43 p.m. EDT
By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer
WakeMed is seeking approval from the state of North Carolina to build a 150-bed mental health hospital and a 45-bed acute care hospital.
On Monday, WakeMed leaders announced they would file two certificates of need (CON) with the state.
“People are finally recognizing that mental health is as critical to a community’s health as is the physical health,” said WakeMed Health and Hospitals President and CEO Donald Gintzig at a Monday afternoon media availability.
Gintzig and other WakeMed leaders said they expect the state to take about six months to review the proposals.
WakeMed said that in addition to the community’s unprecedented growth, area hospital emergency departments and mental health facilities continue to see dramatic increases in the number of adults and children suffering mental health and substance use crises. Since the start of the pandemic, WakeMed said its emergency departments have seen a 25% increase in these diagnoses, which is an increase of 40,000 visits a year.
“We know our region will continue to grow. It’s a great place to live, work and raise a family,” Gintzig said. “We have to plan today to meet the needs of an even larger community in the future. These two new facilities will help us do that.”
WakeMed previously received 50 mental health beds from the state, and, with Monday’s CON filing, it is requesting 100 more. According to WakeMed, the location for the mental health hospital is likely in eastern Wake County. WakeMed leaders are hoping to start construction in fall 2024 and it would open in 2027, pending state approval.
The proposed Garner Hospital would be located at White Oak Road and Timber Drive East. Pending state approval, WakeMed would begin its groundbreaking by fall 2024 and it would open in 2027.
WakeMed Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Rick Shrum said WakeMed would consider an appeal process if not approved by the state.
“We’re pretty optimistic that the region, the area needs it and the state needs it,” Shrum said. “So, we’re pretty optimistic that this project is going to be positively perceived.”
However, UNC Health's Director of News Alan Wolf said UNC Health Rex has submitted three proposals of its own to the state.
UNC Health Rex's acute-care proposal competes with WakeMed's, Wolf said.
"UNC Health Rex is proposing a much more cost-effective plan to add capacity at our existing hospitals and meet increasing demand across Wake County," Wolf wrote in an email to WRAL News. "We believe our proposal will better serve future generations of patients across our fast-growing region."
Wolf said he expects the state to make a decision in January.
“As the pandemic took its toll on our community’s families, we quickly realized that a 50-bed mental health hospital is not enough,” Gintzig said. “Mental health touches every life and there is a collective understanding that we must take action to both eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and support our growing population.
“While the new facility will be a WakeMed entity, it will be part of our entire community’s concerted effort to provide more abundant, specialized inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance use care and services to the residents of our region.”
WakeMed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Micah Krempasky said Monday that mental health care is just like medical care.
“It’s an illness and it deserves treatment, and it deserves treatment in a compassionate way," Krempasky said. "“This is not mental health treatment of the old days.
"This is state of the art, cutting edge, compassionate care in a friendly and inviting environment.”
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