An artist's rendering of the planned mental health center at Indiana Regional Medical Center.

Construction will begin later this fall on a 31,000-sq.-ft., 44-bed mental health facility on the Indiana Regional Medical Center (IRMC) campus, northeast of Pittsburgh. The care center will treat adolescent, adult and geriatric patients alike.

In announcing the new $14 million facility Oct. 19, hospital President and CEO Stephen A. Wolfe said that rural areas like Indiana County and the surrounding region are critically underserved for health care – even more so for mental health care.

"As an independent community hospital, we understand the needs of the people we serve," Wolfe explained. "Behavioral health needs have been a critical issue for some time and only worsened due to the pandemic. Our hope is to provide care and comfort to the patients and families affected."

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020, the mental health care needs in the area have skyrocketed while the provider community is suffering the worst personnel crisis in its history, according to IRMC. Training new health care professionals to recognize mental health concerns early and address them while the most costly and catastrophic results can be prevented is foundational to the entire project.

The new facility will offer patients and their families care that is close to home while helping ease staffing burnout and other issues at hospitals currently receiving the county's patients, the medical center noted in a press release.

Mental health treatment is behind most of the transfers from emergency departments throughout the region. In 2021, 200 Indiana County residents were sent to 23 inpatient facilities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Officials at IRMC also predict one outcome of the project is that the wait time in its emergency department will be reduced. Over a 12-year period, patients waiting at the hospital's ED while a psychiatric inpatient bed is found increased from 1½ hours in 2009 to over 11 hours in 2021. Often, patients wait multiple days for a bed to be located.

Partnership Formed to Pull in Funding

The Indiana, Pa., hospital has allied with the Armstrong-Indiana-Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission, the Armstrong-Indiana Behavioral Health and Development Program (BDHP), and the Southwest Behavioral Health Management to get a $4.8 million HealthChoices reinvestment grant for construction costs through the state's Department of Human Services' Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Tammy Calderone, the BDHP's program administrator, told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat that local mental health agencies have not been adequately funded since a 10 percent cut to the program was instituted in 2012.

"I am excited about the opportunity to partner with IRMC in securing funds for the development of the inpatient beds for our region," she said. "This is a much-needed service that will support residents in our communities and strengthen the existing behavioral health continuum of care."

Kami Anderson, executive director at Armstrong-Indiana-Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission, also welcomed the latest development.

"I am excited to see this project come to fruition," Anderson said. "Inpatient mental health beds are very limited in western Pennsylvania, and the addition of these beds will help our area residents access quality care locally."

The new facility at IRMC is slated to be completed late next year.

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