Addressing Potential Challenges to SCMHH

The opening of the South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital is going to provide a much needed resource for not only our community but the entire state. The lack of inpatient beds lead to significant strain on hospitals and law enforcement. The process of seeking crisis help is often a long and traumatic experience for patients and families. While working as a crisis screener, there were many times I spent hours calling to find an open bed for a patient, only to have the patient waiting for days in the ED for one to open. In 2024, the average time a Sedgwick County patient was boarded in the ED while waiting for a mental health bed was 1-2 days. This diverts needed resources away from other patients, can lead to patients leaving before receiving treatment, and can cause deterioration in the patient's psychiatric health. This can pose a significant risk not only to the patient but to public safety. The legal system is also overburdened by the lack of psychiatric resources. Defendants waiting for an opening to complete a competency evaluation often wait up to 13 months in jail before receiving one. This creates a backlog in the court system and adds increased strain on jails. South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital will provide increased access to services, reduce strain on healthcare and the criminal justice system, and create additional jobs for our community. It will be important to ensure that this project continues and the funding for the facility protected as it provides essential services and cost-savings. It is estimated that COMCARE alone saved the county $4.7 million in 2023 by providing crisis care. The addition of this facility will save us even more. As exciting as these new services are, we need to be mindful of why there is already a shortage of beds. It is not because the beds don’t exist, but because there is not enough staff to provide care. Larned had an overall staffing vacancy of 45% with a nursing vacancy of 69% while Osawatomie had a staffing vacancy of 37% in 2024. This led to a heavy reliance on travel nurses. A state employed RN starts around $40/hr while a contract RN starts at $90/hr. In 2025, the use of travel nurses cost Osawatomie an additional $15.4 million and Larned $46 million. Having a facility with the potential to treat does not matter if we are unable to appropriately staff it. Burn out, wage disparity, and safety issues need to be monitored and addressed to ensure staffing is maintained and all beds continue to be available. Overcrowded and understaffed hospitals create a significant safety risk to patients and staff.