Austin's new psychiatric hospital: Which problems it'll help, which ones it won't
Leaders said the building and program redesign mark a shift in the way people with mental health are treated, moving away from a congregational warehouse shelter to a more individualized living and treatment facility.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Project leaders of the new Austin State Hospital facility gathered Thursday morning for a ceremony to put the final structural beam in place.
The new building will be 375,000 square feet with 240 rooms, giving each patient their own room and bathroom. Its opening and ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for next year.
"So in the traditional hospitals, people were just kind of put in as many in a room as you could get to minimize the cost of the space. But that's really not the best care, right?" said Dr. Steve Strakowski, vice president for regional mental health for Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.
"The rest of health care knows that the best care is, you know, single rooms where you can focus on the individual, they have a place to retreat to when they're anxious," added Strakowski, who helped lead the redesign team.
Natalie Stephens is associate principal at Page, an architect and engineering firm that has been part of the redesign. She said another key element is separating beds in "sub clusters," with eight beds off each hallway.
"Less social density, so as you are first beginning your stay at the hospital, you get a little more comfort there," she said.
Each cluster has open-air access, either to a porch or courtyard, as well as a shared dining room, giving patients more autonomy over what their day looks like, she said.
"You would leave your unit in the morning, and you would spend all day attending classes, doing computer training," she explained.
She said some of these classes and activities are already being offered, but in different buildings on campus, so some high-risk patients may have to join virtually or not at all.
Characteristics like natural light, open-aired, secured porches and courtyards also offer a more "healing environment," said Scott Schalchlin with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
The redesign also features safety improvements, he said.
"For example, we have better sight lines whenever we're watching patients," said Schalchlin, deputy executive commissioner for the health and specialty care system. "We designed the rooms in a way that ... we can make sure that somebody can't, for example, get in an area where staff can't see them when they're coming by. So if they're suicidal or something, we're able to watch them more carefully."
Other features will include a half basketball court and a cafeteria where patients can meet with visitors.
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page) 
Renderings of the new Austin State Hospital from architect and engineering firm Page (Photo Courtesy Page)
Mental health care needs still lacking
The new Austin State Hospital will not add more bed capacity.
But Schalchlin said there are two new hospitals on the way that would help that — one in Houston that is set to open next week and one in Dallas for which the state legislature just approved funds.
"We're also going to be looking across our system, if there's other places that we can do expansions or maybe look at other hospital sites, some of that's still in discussion, it's very early with the legislature," he said.
Austin mayoral candidate Kirk Watson said Austin's current system also isn't set up to support quick discharges, which would free up beds.
"We have in many instances people that are in the Austin State Hospital that could be out of the Austin State Hospital more rapidly," said Watson, who helped start the process for the new facility in 2011.
"The hospital ... tends to be used for everything, because there's a shortage of the other pieces you need," said Strakowski.
He said people are getting stuck longer than they need to be in both the hospital and jails.
"We have to find a better way for the criminal justice system and mental health systems to work together," he said, adding a new steering committee he is a part of for Travis County is working on that.
He also said we need more options for post-hospital care.
"We just don't have enough less-restrictive environments to get people out of the hospital, moving them back into the community," he said.
Strakowski said the new Austin State Hospital redesign team is trying to figure that out and how it can utilize partners like the Downtown Austin Community Court.