New mental health hospital opens in Edwards, restoring care on Colorado’s Western Slope

Colorado once again has psychiatric beds available west of the Front Range after Vail Wellness opened a new inpatient facility last week Until just now West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction was the only option for inpatient psychiatric healing between metro Denver and Salt Lake City The hospital closed in early March because of financial difficulties though its detoxification facility and outpatient clinic remained open Precourt Healing Center which sits on a campus in Edwards that also houses outpatient mental physical condition providers and region organizations working with youth accepted its first patients on May As of Friday afternoon three people from across the western half of the state had started care there commented Kim Goodrich director of behavioral physical condition inpatient operations Precourt differs from West Springs in a insufficient methods It isn t set up to provide detoxification care so people who are struggling with addiction as well as a mental soundness condition will need to stabilize elsewhere after starting their care at Precourt Goodrich stated The facility also can t treat as a great number of patients at the same time with beds rather than at West Springs she explained We fill a gap that was left by their closing but there are smaller pieces that need to be plugged up she stated Another difference is that patients can t walk into Precourt to seek care but need a referral from an urgency room or an agency that partners with Vail Physical condition West Springs operated a psychiatric crisis room that could admit patients directly Vail Medical designed Precourt to treat patients holistically with healthy meals exercise options and complementary therapies such as art and music as well as traditional one-on-one or group therapy explained Dr Teresa Haynes director of inpatient behavioral physical condition The goal is to allow people to use different parts of their brains to work through their crises and to give them certain tools to manage their mental robustness when they go home she disclosed Individuals who are in this level of emergency don t necessarily want to talk about their story all day every day she announced Related Articles Hospital systems in Colorado saw improved finances in but Medicaid cuts are looming threat Colorado school district approves transgender athlete ban though questions about implementation remain Colorado school district seeks restrictions on transgender athletes amid Trump crackdown Denver Healthcare unveils plan for million coming from new sales tax this year Charges dropped against officers in Christian Glass death in deal for additional training video Precourt also uses remote monitoring device to avoid disrupting patients sleep to check that they re safe overnight Goodrich declared The system uses infrared light to see if the person is in their bed and to check that they re breathing without showing a clear image that would invade their privacy she noted Psychiatric hospitals check patients frequently at all hours to ensure they haven t harmed themselves Most of people will ostensibly stay three to five days before transitioning to outpatient care Goodrich mentioned It s taking that immediate acute emergency stabilizing getting the materials around them and getting them back in the neighborhood she commented Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get strength news sent straight to your inbox