Once Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center opens its new mental health facility in October, it will become the largest inpatient mental health provider among all U.S. children's hospitals, according to an Aug. 25 report from The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The new 160,000-square-foot mental health center is replacing a building that was one-third of its size, comprising 83 private rooms big enough to host patients' families overnight. The project totaled $108 million in costs, including a $30 million donation from the Convalescent Hospital Fund for Children.
The facility is planned to open on Oct. 18 and will provide a family resource center, an enhanced educational center, programs such as a therapeutic crisis intervention, and therapeutic treatment spaces. Michael Sorter, MD, director of Cincinnati Children's child and adolescent psychiatry division, said the center is "a giant step forward" for the city's capabilities amid the nation's mental health crisis, according to the report.