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County plans to buy closed hospital, treat mentally ill children

Ventura County Star (CA) - 7/7/2015

July 06--OXNARD, Calif. -- Ventura County officials plan to buy the shuttered Pacific Shores Hospital in Oxnard and convert part of it into an outpatient center for children facing mental health crises.

County Behavioral Health Director Elaine Crandall said Monday that the center would provide an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization. Currently, youngsters in crisis may wait days for a bed to open up in a psychiatric facility and often must be transported out of the county for care, she said.

Crandall said it's estimated that as many as two-thirds of children hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency did not require that level of care, but that a lesser alternative has not been available in the county.

She anticipates that four or five children could be served in any given day at the unit that would be licensed for stays of up to 23 hours. The goal is for the youngsters to be assessed and receive treatment, education and support so they can return home safely, she said.

Pacific Shores officials suspended admissions in November at the 30-bed hospital at 2130 N. Ventura Road, but have declined to provide any reasons. The facility was known for treatment of eating disorders.

County officials have offered $1.98 million for the property, subject to the approval of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. The board will be asked Tuesday to set a public hearing at 10:30 a.m.Aug. 11 on whether to purchase the property from Pacific Shores Hospital Inc.

Crandall said she hopes to open the crisis stabilization center, which would operate around the clock, by January.

The center would occupy perhaps a third to half of the building. Uses for the remainder have not yet been determined, she said.

The center is desperately needed, said Lori Litel, executive director of United Parents, an agency aiding families with children with emotional, behavioral and mental health disorders.

"We need to take care of our children here in Ventura County," she said Monday. "It is a wonderful step for families who have children in distress."

Crandall said the Hillmont adult psychiatric unit at Ventura County Medical Center had accepted children, but suspended admissions about a month ago.

"We found it was better to take them to the nearest hospital licensed for children," she said.

Children require special care and should not be in adult wards, Litel said.

"Oftentimes, children are shipped out of our county because there is no place for them here," she said.

On average, about 1,000 Ventura County children are detained each year because they are a danger to themselves or others, or are gravely disabled, Crandall said.

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(c)2015 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)

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