The Southcentral Foundation launched a $100 million construction project Tuesday to expand behavioral health care services in Alaska.
The Alaska Native-owned health care provider is building a three-story, 100,000-square-foot facility at the northwest corner of Tudor and Elmore roads to expand crisis care in the state and better support people who experience emergencies related to behavioral health and substance disorders. said representatives of the organization.
Alaska has long experienced a shortage of mental health treatment options. Crisis care outside of expensive emergency departments, which can act as a kind of intervention before requiring higher-level care, is a particular need, health care organization representatives say.
The Southcentral Foundation employs 2,700 people and operates the Alaska Native Medical Center in conjunction with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
The new center is scheduled to be completed in early 2026, said April Kyle, executive director of the Southcentral Foundation, during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site Tuesday.
The building will be located on the lot that now houses the 22-bed Southcentral Foundation Detox facility at 4330 Elmore Road, which will continue to operate during construction. The existing building will eventually be torn down to house the center’s parking lot. The project will also replace the Rainmaker car wash, purchased by the Southcentral Foundation, which previously operated at the site.
The center’s services, once built, will include an expansion of the number of detox beds to 30. The center will also offer 23-hour adult crisis stabilization with 16 locations for walk-in care and short-term residential adult crisis care. term. with 16 beds, Southcentral said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
Services will also include expanded withdrawal management and outpatient behavioral health services.
“It is essential that when a community member is experiencing a behavioral health crisis ‘right now,’ that we have the right service for them,” Kyle told about 150 people gathered for the ceremony. “I think we know we don’t have that today. Too often, when someone is in crisis, they end up in our emergency services department or, worse yet, in jail.”
Currently, that forces first responders and emergency room doctors to treat people even if they don’t have adequate resources for the task, he said.
The new center will provide appropriate placement options for people in distress, he said.
The center will be a “big deal” that will help relieve pressure on emergency rooms, said Jared Kosin, executive director of the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association. It will address some of the high rates of addiction in Alaska, such as those for opioids and alcohol, he said.
“For many years, people experiencing behavioral health crises have really had nowhere to turn, so they have to go to the emergency room,” Kosin said. “And that has created a really saturated pressure point in the health care system. “Being able to provide an access point specifically designed for the types of crises that people experience so often is exactly what we need in our healthcare system.”
The project is moving forward as work is also underway on another crisis stabilization center in Providence Alaska. It will offer walk-in care to Alaskans experiencing emergencies related to behavioral health and substance disorders, as well as 23-hour crisis stabilization for adults and short-term crisis stabilization care for adults, if needed. Construction of that crisis stabilization center began last year. That center will be open early next year, said Providence spokesman Mikal Canfield.
The Southcentral Foundation’s new program will be open to all Alaska residents who wish to receive support in completing medical detox, the organization said in the prepared statement.
The crisis stabilization center will provide timely access to crisis intervention and stabilization, according to the release. A multidisciplinary team will help meet the needs of an individual. A plan will be developed for discharge to appropriate inpatient or outpatient care facilities, according to the release.
Individuals who need more support can transition to the short-term residential program for additional observation and treatment, according to the release. The program will provide care for up to seven days. Services will include crisis intervention, ongoing assessment and stabilization, individual and group counseling by master’s-level therapists and peer support specialists, and case management to support discharge planning, according to the release.
Medication-assisted treatment will be available, according to the release. Participants will be able to detox in a shared space under 24-hour medical supervision and will work with a multidisciplinary team to determine the next steps in their recovery, according to the release.
The Southcentral project has been in the works for several years, Kyle said.
A long list of state and federal officials and others, representing organizations that have helped make the project possible, attended the ceremony Tuesday. Several of those supporters lined up to remove the first crumbs of dirt with gold-colored shovels, after a performance by Alaska Native dancers. Among the pioneers of the ceremony was Roselyn Tso, director of the Indigenous Health Service.
Kyle said in an interview after the grand opening that the center is only part of the solution to address addictions including alcohol and opioids.
“Detox is just one part of how we fix that,” he said. “That’s why we’re adding detox beds with this facility. “We need to continue to expand residential treatment programs and prevention programs.”
Katie Baldwin-Johnson, chief operating officer of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, said the center will be “absolutely critical” to helping adequately address the mental health crises people face.
The trust and its partners, such as leaders at Southcentral Foundation and Providence, have been studying gaps in emergency mental health treatment that can leave someone suffering in the community without the services they need, he said.
“Our trustees have been great advocates and advocates for reform within the state,” he said.
• • •
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow @Keynote USA Local on Twitter.
Source link