LAKELAND, Fla. — New mental health resources are on the way for people in Polk County. Lakeland Regional Health has made a $46 million investment to help try and solve the county’s mental health crisis.
On average, Lakeland Regional Health treats 5,000 Baker Act patients a year.
“Right now, when they enter an emergency room and need emergency psychiatric care, they’re having to be transported out of Polk County away from their homes because there hasn’t been enough beds,” said Alice Nuttall, Associate Vice President of Behavioral Health for Lakeland Regional Health.
The hospital’s new Harrell Family Center for Behavioral Wellness will have 96 beds. The state-of-the-art facility designed to promote relaxation and healing is set to open in mid-September. It will offer inpatient and outpatient care for adults and children.
“On an outpatient basis, there is trans magnetic simulation that is working to be able to treat depression and other types of diagnosis that may not be responding to medications. This, we really see as the future of psychiatry,” said Lakeland Regional Health President and CEO Danielle Drummond.
Emergency stabilization, a specialty care unit, and substance abuse program are also available. All in hopes of improving access to mental care.
In Polk County the ratio of the population to mental health providers is 1,190:1. This new facility will help change that.
“We will have many new providers and really the addition of these providers will help address the significant need that we see here in Polk county,” Drummond said.
More than 90% of patients that Lakeland Regional Health serves come from law enforcement partners. The Winter Haven Police Department is still looking to fill a licensed clinical social worker position that was opened in march.
