North Carolina
Department of Health and Human Services

For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: September 24, 2002

New Psychiatric Hospital to be Built in Butner

RALEIGH - N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom today announced that the state's new psychiatric hospital will be built in Butner, near John Umstead Hospital.

"We have evaluated all of the data, and this site is the best location," said Hooker Odom. "There is a good pool of skilled workers, it is close to research and training programs at Duke and Carolina, we already own the property, and utilities are already in place.

In March, Hooker Odom announced plans to realign the state's mental health hospitals, but a definite location had not been determined for the new hospital. "Both Umstead and Dix hospitals need extensive repairs and renovation that would cost more than $160 million, and that's just to make them adequate," said Hooker Odom. "Building an efficient state-of-the-art facility will cost just $100 million. This is the right thing to do for people who need extensive care in a psychiatric institution."

A bill is pending in the General Assembly that will authorize financing the new facility Bonds will be issued in 2004 to finance the 451,800 square foot, 432-bed facility.

In making its site selection, DHHS used a ranking system that looked at six factors: location to clients, availability of skilled work force, proximity to UNC and Duke, availability of utilities, availability of state-owned or reasonably priced property, and access to major highways. Four sites were evaluated - Butner, Raleigh on the Dorothea Dix grounds, Siler City, and Pittsboro. Each site was given up to four points on each of the factors. Butner scored 21 points. The next closest ranking site was Raleigh with 17 points. Butner scored "fours" on five of the six factors. Once the new hospital is complete, both Umstead and Dorothea Dix Hospital will be closed.

"This decision fits into our ongoing reform efforts," Hooker Odom added. "Patients are going to be better served with treatment in their community. Hospitals are a last resort for people who need highly specialized treatment or long-term care. In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled that we need to make sure that community care is available and that failure to do so could be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"There has been some misrepresentation of our mental health reform plan - with folks saying that we'll be putting mentally ill people on the street," she said. "That's absolutely not true. We just want to make sure that people are treated appropriately and humanely. In many cases, the most appropriate and humane treatment is in the community - not at an institution far from home. But when that institutional care is really needed, it should be the best that we can offer - not in old, failing facilities."

This phase of the reform plan will take at least six years. Umstead and Dix hospitals will not be closed until the new facility is complete, Hooker Odom said.

Both Umstead and Dix hospitals are old facilities. John Umstead Hospital was originally part of a World War II convalescent army hospital. It was purchased from the federal government and first admitted patients in 1947. Dorothea Dix is even older. Its first patient was admitted in 1856. Most of Dix' buildings were built prior to World War II.

The state maintains two other psychiatric hospitals - Broughton Hospital in Morganton, which services western North Carolina, and Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, which serves eastern North Carolina. The state will use money that would have been used to repair and renovate Dix and Umstead will be used to update these two facilities. "When we're through, we will have three excellent, well-situated psychiatric hospitals to serve the needs of people across the state," said Hooker Odom.

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