“Probably more than six years ago, these conversations began between Trinity Health Michigan and Universal Health Services about how we can better meet the excess needs of mental health patients in West Michigan.”
Managing director and CEO Scott Miles says Southridge Behavioral Hospital will provide 96 adult and geriatric beds and employ around 170 full- and part-time staff members.
“It’s also freeing up Trinity Health with their psych med unit. With Southridge taking the general adult patients that get stuck in their ED that often end up in the psych med unit, this gives us the ability to treat those patients at Southridge, freeing up psych med unit for those truly medically complex patients.”
According to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, Michigan ranks 47th in the nation for inpatient bed availability, with only five beds for every 100,000 residents.
Miles says people experiencing a mental health crisis can be transported to Southridge.
“We’ll help get those folks out of the ED, which we all agree is not the appropriate place for a mental health patient, into a bed.”
Southridge Behavioral Hospital is expected to open in the next few weeks.
