San Jose, Calif.-based Santa Clara Valley Healthcare began admitting patients Nov. 3 to its new Behavioral Health Pavilion. The 77-bed facility provides inpatient psychiatric care for children, adolescents and adults.
The 207,000-square-foot pavilion on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center campus has 14 beds for children, 21 for adolescents and 42 for adults, with a separate floor for each age group.
The facility also offers emergency psychiatric services for patients of all ages, whether they arrive by ambulance, with police or on their own. Physicians and nurses staff the building around the clock, and an on-site retail pharmacy lets patients leave with their medications.
The county’s Board of Supervisors approved the project in 2017 to address a shortage of local inpatient beds for youth. About 375 county youth need acute psychiatric care each year, and roughly 65% are placed in facilities outside the county.
State grants of more than $80 million helped fund the project. A new pedestrian bridge will soon connect the pavilion directly to the medical center’s emergency department.
“Even as we face unprecedented federal funding cuts, we will continue investing in essential services to ensure our community has access to compassionate, high-quality care when it’s needed most,” said County Executive James R. Williams.
Santa Clara Valley Healthcare is the County of Santa Clara’s public healthcare system. The pavilion brings behavioral health services that had been spread across the region into a single building.
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