Construction of a 72-bed psychiatric hospital is set to begin in Salmon Creek next month, with the facility slated to open next summer.
Springstone LLC of Louisville, Ky., will build Rainier Springs Hospital on a 12.5-acre site near the Interstate 205 interchange at Northeast 134th Street. Once operational in 2018, the hospital will provide a range of inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction services for adults.
“We’re excited about going out to that community,” said Jill Force, Springstone co-founder and chief administrative officer. “It’s a wonderful state, and we’re excited to be entering.”
Springstone was founded seven years ago with the goal of treating mental illness and addiction in an attractive and therapeutic environment, Force said.
“Within the industry, there’s a lot of people buying and selling the same buildings,” she said. “We wanted to do it with a fresh start and build a place that’s nice and healing for our patients.”
In Vancouver, the 53,000-square-foot, single-story building will cover less than 6 acres. The triangular site, at 2711 N.E. 129th St., is bordered by Waters Edge condominiums to the north, Salmon Creek to the east and I-205 to the south. It will be Springstone’s 17th facility.
Rainier Springs Hospital will provide a full range of services — including inpatient, voluntary and involuntary treatment, adult, and geropsychiatric for the elderly, as well as substance abuse services — for patients 18 and older. The hospital also will offer supplemental services, such as nutrition, yoga, music and art therapy, Force said.
The average length of the stay at the hospital will be about eight days.
The hospital will also have a robust outpatient program, Force said. The program will be broken into various levels, such as all-day sessions five days per week or three-hour sessions three days per week. Patients will start with an assessment to determine the appropriate level of care and can step down as needed, Force said.
“We’re trying to meet people where their needs are,” she said.
Opposition
The state Department of Health approved Springstone’s application to build the hospital in October 2015. Since then, the application has been tied up with appeals by another company, Signature Healthcare Services, that also submitted an application to build a Clark County facility.
Despite the ongoing appeals process, which has now reached the court system, Springstone is moving forward with the $26.8 million project.
The project also ran into some opposition at the county level. Clark County Community Development staff recommended approval of the project’s conditional use permit and preliminary site plan on March 30. A community member, however, requested a public hearing on the project.
A Clark County hearing examiner ruled in April that the proposed hospital met county code standards and “will not be significantly detrimental” to people or property nearby — clearing the way for construction.
It’s not unusual for neighbors to raise concerns initially, Force said. But after the hospital is built and staff begin to work with neighbors and other providers in the community, those fears tend to dissipate, she said.
“People think scary things about a ‘mental hospital,’” Force said. “These are patients who come in for a week. They might be having a personal breakdown or crisis, but it’s not long-term, acutely ill people. … They walk out the door after their week.”
