For years, Santa Clara County children who needed acute psychiatric care were sent hours away for treatment. That changes Nov. 3, when the county's new Behavioral Health Pavilion on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center campus opens for service, San José Spotlight reported.
By the numbers
- Cost: $470 million
- Size: 207,000 square feet, three stories, 77 beds
- Youth beds: 35 — 14 for children 12 and under and 21 for teens
- Adult beds: 42, in a separate acute inpatient section that replaces the existing adult facility
The youth section will offer inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and medical care, emergency psychiatric services and urgent care. A skywalk will connect it to medical services across the VMC campus. The building includes large windows, outdoor space and a basketball court.
Why it took so long
Former Supervisor Joe Simitian learned in 2015 that the county had no psychiatric beds for children. Supervisors approved the project in 2017 with a 2023 target, but construction setbacks and cost concerns delayed it. About 375 children need acute care each year, and 65% have had to go outside the county — to Sacramento, Vallejo and Santa Rosa, according to county figures cited by Spotlight.
"The need is great, and the need is still not being met," said Dr. Kristoffer Strauss, VMC's medical director of acute psychiatric services. Supervisor Susan Ellenberg called the building "one of the strongest signs of hope for our county" at Monday's grand opening.