Deschutes County accepted funding from the Oregon Health Authority on July 24 to support a behavioral health treatment facility in Redmond. On May 29, the Board of County Commissioners gave approval for the Deschutes County Health Services to accept a $2,000,000 grant to construct a Class 1, 16-bed secure residential treatment facility.
A Class 1 treatment facility serves people who meet a certain threshold – those who are too dangerous to themselves or others because of their mental illness and need involuntary secure treatment. According to Holly Harris, the Deschutes County behavioral health director, the need for this type of facility in Central Oregon is great.
"There is such limited capacity for those individuals. If they meet that level of care, they really shouldn't be anywhere else other than that level of care. It's not safe for them, it's not safe for the community. This will help fill that gap," Harris said.
While the $2 million will go toward the construction of this facility, it will not cover most of the funds needed to complete this project. According to Harris, the last facility like this one that the County tried to construct had about a $14 million price tag.
As she said, "$2 million is really a drop in the bucket when it comes to building a facility like this," she said. "It's really going to require an entity that has its own capital, money that they can invest in it."
Harris said the County sent out a request to have a private partner help supplement the $2 million. They are in the process of reviewing applications. Harris also noted that it would likely take about 18 to 24 months to get the facility up and running.
