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WakeMed gets approval for two new hospitals, one with focus on behavioral and mental health

WakeMed has gotten the 'green light' from the state to move forward with building two new hospitals. One of those hospitals will cater to behavioral and mental health services, which officials say is a large need in Wake County.

Posted Updated

By
Destinee Patterson
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — WakeMed has gotten the ‘green light’ from the state to move forward with building two new hospitals. One of those hospitals will cater to behavioral and mental health services, which officials say is a large need in Wake County.

Garner is the proposed site for a new treatment center, which will offer 45 beds for people with long-term illnesses. The health care system also plans to build a state-of-the-art behavioral health center in Knightdale.

The new Knightdale facility will house 150 mental health beds.

Riley Gutshall, a clinical sales rep for Certus Psychiatry, says she's noticed a lack of resources for mental health care.

"I lost one of my really good friends to mental health," she says.

When it was time to pick her career, Gutshall said she knew the mental health field was where she wanted to make a difference.

"I just didn't know where to look. Being in the field now, I feel like I can help people find where to look," she says.

The need for mental health resources is straining the system in Wake County.

"We are significantly underserved," Micah Krempasky, WakeMed's chief medical officer for mental health and wellbeing told WRAL.

Donald Gintzig, the president and CEO for WakeMed, says, "What we've found is if you can connect a patient and family with a provider faster, they'll go and get the care they need."

Gutshall says it's important to have facilities dedicated to just mental health -- because it's specialized.

"Going to a regular hospital can be scary for somebody," she says. "But knowing you're going somewhere they have your best interest at heart and they really know what you're going through and can help you through it, I think that's important, too."

Organizations have 30 days to appeal the state’s decision. WakeMed's spokesperson tells WRAL News that 30 days will be up this weekend for the Garner property. If there’s no opposition, WakeMed will be able to move forward with planning and development.

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