21 Nov State Gives County Grant for New Mental Health Facility in Richmond

(Contra Costa Health Services via Bay City News)

By Tony Hicks
Bay City News

Contra Costa County has received an $18.6 million grant from the state it will use to build a new mental health rehabilitation center, the county announced Tuesday.

Contra Costa Health officials said the new facility will be built on county-owned property at 847 Brookside Drive in Richmond.

The facility will serve patients experiencing serious mental illness who need 24-hour residential care but don’t need hospitalization, according to the county. Residents who need that level of care must now travel out of the community — sometimes across the state — to find it.

“Right now, there is a tremendous burden on our patients and families, who must uproot their lives and relocate to wherever beds are available, during a time that is already extremely difficult for them,” John Gioia, chairperson of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.

Gioia’s district includes the future site.

“This facility will help us to keep our residents in our community, where they are best served,” he said.

The center is planned as a locked facility with 44 beds providing 24-hour, sub-acute care, a high level of care that is less intensive and longer term than acute care, which patients receive when hospitalized.

No facilities currently provide this service in Contra Costa County, CCH behavioral health director Suzanne Tavano said, meaning that when a patient is ready to step down from hospital care but still needs 24-hour service in a locked facility, they are transferred to neighboring counties or farther.

“Our goal is to bring Contra Costa residents back home,” Tavano said. “People who need this level of care are receiving it in facilities located in the greater Bay Area and Central Valley. For at least 20 years, we’ve been working toward opening our own facility in Contra Costa, for Contra Costa residents.”

Earlier this month, the state selected Contra Costa County’s proposal for an $18.6 million grant through its Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program.

The county said voices from Contra Costa’s mental health advocacy community played a pivotal role in making the project a state funding priority. Currently more than 100 patients from Contra Costa County are receiving sub-acute care at facilities elsewhere in California.

The state grant will cover construction costs for the CCH-operated facility. A timeline for the project has not yet been established.

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