Lane County buys land for behavioral health campus

Presenter: Public comments July 29 asked Lane County commissioners to buy land for the behavioral health campus. Leading off for Team PeaceHealth, Joan Tompkins:

Joan Tompkins (PeaceHealth): My name is Joan Tompkins. I’m a licensed clinical social worker who’s worked in this community for over 20 years serving our most vulnerable community members. I’m currently the director of behavioral health at PeaceHealth Medical Group.

[00:00:22] I have extensive experiences of clinicians serving in crisis services, inpatient psychiatry, child welfare, dual diagnosis services, and a variety of outpatient services. I’ve seen firsthand the urgent need for a more responsive, compassionate, and coordinated system of care in Lane County.

[00:00:42] That’s why I’m proud to speak in support of our new co-located behavioral health campus. It won’t be just a facility, it will be a lifeline. It means that when someone is in crisis, they’ll have immediate access to stabilization, assessment, and treatment in a safe and therapeutic environment.

[00:01:00] It means families won’t have to navigate fragmented systems and wait days or weeks for care. It means our community will finally have a full continuum of behavioral health services from crisis to recovery right here at home.

[00:01:16] Importantly, this campus will also help keep patients out of the emergency department, which increases access to the ED for community members experiencing see physical health issues. By serving behavioral health patients in a therapeutic and healing environment, we not only improve individual outcomes, but also reduce the strain on our emergency services.

[00:01:38] This benefits the entire community by ensuring that people in crisis receive the right care in the right setting, while preserving emergency resources for those who need them most. It leads to better health outcomes, more efficient use of public resources, and a stronger and more resilient health care system.

[00:01:59] Co-locating the crisis stabilization center and our acute care psychiatric hospital in the same property is a critical component of this vision. It allows for seamless transitions between levels of care, reduces delays in treatment, and ensures that individuals receive the right intensity of service at the right time, all in the same location.

[00:02:21] This integration fosters better communication among providers, enhances continuity of care, and ultimately leads to more effective and compassionate treatment for those in crisis.

[00:02:33] The location of the campus is also ideal. It offers excellent access for law enforcement and mobile crisis teams, ensuring timely and coordinated responses to behavioral health crisis. Centrally located within the community, it provides equitable access for residents across urban and rural areas alike.

[00:02:52] To our neighbors and local businesses, I want to ensure you this facility will be a good neighbor. With extensive discharge planning, strong community partnerships, and a focus on safety and dignity, we’re committed to ensuring that this enhances, not disrupts the community.

[00:03:10] Dr. Sarah Coleman (PeaceHealth): Hello, my name is Sarah Coleman. I’m an emergency medicine physician. I’ve worked in the community for close to 23 years now. I’m here representing my group, Eugene Emergency Physicians, which has been in contract with PeaceHealth for over 30 years as a group.

[00:03:26] I’m here to say that we need help. We see people in crisis, and I feel like having a stabilization center would help us provide higher quality of care. I am a great emergency medicine physician, but we cannot do and take care of the people that we have with the services that we have available right now. It would break your heart to walk down our psych hallway and see adolescents and psych patients sitting in windowless rooms in paper green scrubs on a mat on the floor, for sometimes days, for adolescents, sometimes weeks on end.

[00:04:06] And I challenge you, that this is not the way we should be providing care to our most vulnerable population. I’m sure everyone has tried to go to the emergency department or has someone you love tried to go to the emergency department and waited hours to be seen.

[00:04:21] Part of the issue is we’re boarding psych patients for days on end in rooms and so we don’t have those rooms available to take care of other medical needs. This facility would be close enough to RiverBend that we could easily take care of people with medical needs and that’s why I think it’s important that it is close by to RiverBend because psychiatric patient also has medical needs that they may need to be taken care of and we would be close by to help manage those emergencies.

[00:04:50] I don’t have a lot to say other than I’m begging you: We need help. We need this facility and we can only do so much with the structure we have at RiverBend now. And this is so needed, so I urge you to really consider the needs of the community in where we’re locating this facility.

[00:05:11] Presenter: Dr. Adam Burch:

[00:05:12] Dr. Adam Burch (PeaceHealth): My colleagues already have told you how important they feel that this center will be, because it’s not just, you know, one building and another building. The idea is that we have a place for patients to go, for our community members to go, for our family members to go, to get the services they need.

[00:05:33] I’m the medical director for inpatient behavioral health services at PeaceHealth. I’m working in the Old University District Hospital, what used to be a parking lot there, and we’re doing our best, but we need this space. Lane County needs this space. Our communities need this space.

[00:05:59] Yes, it’s to get patients out of the emergency room so that patients with emergency care needs can be seen, but also so that these patients, these community members, can start receiving the treatment they need because most of the time that can’t happen in an emergency room.

[00:06:19] And sitting around for days, sometimes weeks, in an emergency room is absolutely terrible for these people. It is not good for them. And we’re often very, very full already. So having a, you know, 90-plus-bed hospital for psychiatric patients, especially co-located with these county services, which are going to improve everything for these patients, that is so key. I cannot emphasize it enough, how important it is that we have these services available.

[00:07:01] Every study we’ve done—heck, just look at the community. We can all see how needed these things are. Now the location that we’re trying to use is excellently located because it’s not far from the hospital. Because this is not going to be a full emergency room and patients still have medical care. And we don’t want them to take, you know, half an hour to get to an emergency room from our place if needed. But if they’re just down the road, excellent.

[00:07:33] And conversely, if a patient goes there, instead of comes directly to us and they’re like, ‘Oh, just go right down the road.’ It’s much easier for them than saying, okay, ‘Well, you’re going to take a left, and then you’re going to take a right, and then you’re going to go for 15 minutes that direction.’ They’re already in crisis. They don’t need anything extra. We want to make this as simple as possible for them.

[00:07:56] Grady Layman (PeaceHealth): I’m Grady Layman. I’m the director of planning design and construction for PeaceHealth We’ll get it at 1200 Hilliard and Eugene. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today I’m here to discuss the property around the RiverBend campus and our long -term goals

[00:08:13] When PeaceHealth first purchased the property in springfield, we had a 100 -year vision to provide excellent health care to the community. And I actually think that vision is a little small. We need to be thinking 200, 300 years down the road, which is difficult to do.

[00:08:31] At the time, if you envision this with me, we had our property in Eugene. We had maximized it to its current capacity and we outgrew the space. That process took about five decades. So just 50 years.

[00:08:50] The status today at RiverBend is we’re out of space. We have one million square feet that’s completely full. We currently have four large projects that are underway. Once completed, those renovations help bring 27 new beds to the hospital. Those are beds that are definitely needed.

One of our four projects is remodeling our existing ED. It’s hard to believe that after one and a half decades, we already need a remodel. This remodel will help increase our throughput and help more patients be seen in a timely manner.

We’re also excited about our new inpatient rehab facility that’s located near our annex campus. When this opens, it will add 42 rehabilitation beds.

[00:09:36] It’s difficult to determine what the next 100-200 years for health care will require. However, the demand for health care systems will not decrease. The need to expand our hospital is inevitable.

[00:09:49] The land around the hospital needs to be reserved for service lines that have direct access to acute care facilities. Those services that need direct line to imaging, cardiology, surgery suites, and the ED. The highest and best use of the land surrounding the hospital should be reserved for supporting acute care RiverBend.

[00:10:16] The inpatient rehab facility did not require support to those acute care spaces. Our current existing behavioral health doesn’t have access to those services immediately and the new Timber Springs facility also won’t require them. So I respectfully request that the board supports the purchase of this real real estate on industrial way.

[00:10:41] Cliff Harrold (PeaceHealth): My name is Cliff Harrold. I’m the manager of security services for the Oregon network of PeaceHealth.

As you all know, prior to this employment, I spent 35 years as a member of the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. The last six of those, I had the honor of being the sheriff. And so I was part of the Lane County leadership team that, back in 2019, identified a crisis stabilization center as the need for our community, and we started working towards that goal six years ago.

[00:11:05] As a sheriff, I had many opportunities to speak to this body as well as to the public about the need in our community, about the many family members I talked to throughout my career who were desperate to get help for their loved one, who was on a destabilized path, but they could find no help. these family members eventually find themselves hoping for an arrest, thinking that maybe then their loved one will get help.

[00:11:25] We know the criminal justice system is not designed to provide that kind of help, despite the efforts we made at the Lane County Jail to do better by the folks that were in custody that needed behavioral health help.

[00:11:35] I’m a couple of months into my new work as a security manager for PeaceHealth. I have a much clearer view now of the emergency departments, how they’re impacted by folks who are in the midst of crisis, and how this is also not the best place to be able to provide the stabilization that’s needed.

[00:11:48] The reality is there’s a lot of activity going on in the emergency department constantly 24/7 has sort of an energy in the air that you can feel when you’re down there and while it’s not the same as being in jail for sure it’s also not the therapeutic environment for someone in a behavioral health crisis.

[00:12:04] Additionally there’s simply insufficient space to serve the volume of need in our community which results in individuals boarding in our emergency department rooms for days or even weeks before they can be transitioned into the next level of care.

[00:12:16] I’m confident you all already know the need for these services in our community. We’ve been talking about them since 2019. The question is: Is this the right place for those services? And my response is: This is better than we were hoping for in 2019 when we first started talking about this.

[00:12:31] This proposed location with its easy accessibility and ability for both the stabilization center and the new psychiatric hospital to be co -located, providing the opportunity for partnership of services between the county and PeaceHealth is frankly something none of us dreamed about in 2019 when we first started this conversation.

[00:12:49] I can personally attest to you that PeaceHealth has made a strong commitment to a safe environment through investment and a robust security program and purposeful and intentional engagement with neighbors and local law from agencies.

[00:13:00] I believe the relationships PeaceHealth has built with neighbors around the current behavior health unit, which include both Bushnell University and University of Oregon is a testament to that commitment to a safe environment to deliver and receive care.

[00:13:12] Our community is on the path to being able to do better, to have a resource when family members call seeking help for their loved one who is on a path towards destabilization to help before it gets to the point where the family gives up in hopes that the criminal justice system will provide help.

[00:13:26] This is an opportunity, a special opportunity, right in this moment. And I urge you to vote ‘Yes’ to continue moving us forward. Thanks.

[00:13:34] Alicia Beymer (PeaceHealth): My name is Alicia Beymer. I’m the chief administrative officer at PeaceHealth RiverBend, and it’s my honor to actually close out Team PeaceHealth today, who are voicing a really strong support of the purchase and sale agreement for real estate purchase property on International Way to co-locate the Lane Stabilization Center and Timber Springs, a proposed 96-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital.

[00:14:00] Last fall the board collectively supported conducting due diligence on this property. It not only signaled to the community and the state that Lane County is dedicated to bringing vital mental health services to our community, but it also reflected the strong partnership between Lane County and PeaceHealth.

[00:14:21] This project presents an opportunity to engage partners with specialized expertise such as Connections and Lifepoint (Behavioral Health), whose involvement is critical in developing sustainable and comprehensive and high-quality care.

These organizations can’t do this alone. To truly deliver the comprehensive, life-changing behavioral health care our community needs, all four organizations must come together bringing their talents, expertise, resources, and their passion.

[00:14:53] By uniting our efforts, we can rise to the challenge of mental health crisis that we’re experiencing here in Lane County, while balancing a shared sense of stewardship to make a lasting impact for generations to come. PeaceHealth and Lane County representatives have engaged in meaningful discussions with numerous local and state organizations as well as community members

[00:15:18] We embrace the opportunity to continue these discussions. As these collaborations, they are essential to the success of our programs and really have proven to be invaluable. Most recently demonstrated by the numerous letters of support from all over Lane County, many of which helped to secure the capital funding for the Lane Stabilization Center.

[00:15:42] Today, we stand at a pivotal milestone. You have heard from my colleagues and experts today, the need for these life-saving services is urgent. We have a solution, a comprehensive plan, and an innovative service delivery model designed to address a critical need within our community. But we must act quickly.

[00:16:06] We appreciate your courageous leadership and support approving the completion of the purchase of real property. Together we have the power to transform lives and build a healthier, more resilient community.

[00:16:20] Presenter: Staff completed its property due diligence items. Capital Planning and Facilities Manager David Ward:

[00:16:26] David Ward (Lane County, capital planning and facilities manager): I just want to take just a second to acknowledge and thank our PeaceHealth partners this morning for their public comment related to this agenda item.

So for more than a year, we’ve been working to find the most suitable location for the co-located Lane Stabilization Center and the inpatient Timber Springs Hospital. And this agenda item requests authorizing the county administrator to complete the purchase of real property in Springfield…

[00:16:53] Based on our consultants’ final reports, as included as reference materials to this agenda item and board order, staff does not find any objections to the purchase of this property for the development of the Lane Stabilization Center and Timber Springs inpatient facility. So staff recommends that the board authorize the county administrator to complete the purchase of the property in Springfield for the development of these facilities.

[00:17:24] Presenter: The certificate of need process takes about a year. From PeaceHealth RiverBend, Chief Administrative Officer Alicia Beymer:

[00:17:31] Alicia Beymer (PeaceHealth): Our next steps for the property are once the county has finalized their purchase, then on that day, PeaceHealth intends to submit the letter of intent for the certificate of need for our inpatient psychiatric hospital. And we cannot do that until the county has the land, because of the MOU (memorandum of understanding) will then demonstrate that we are acting in good faith to secure the land on the PeaceHealth side and that we will have that within 60 days.

And then we’ll be able to submit the Certificate of Need for that facility. And that process, as we learned through our inpatient rehab hospital and the development, that Certificate of Need process takes about a year to go through and so we’re really very anxious to get that Certificate of Need going so that we can get our services that our community needs so vitally up and running as quickly as possible.

[00:18:33] Presenter: Commissioners would later vote 4-1 to buy the land and move ahead. The one opposing vote was Commissioner David Loveall:

[00:18:39] Commissioner David Loveall: I find myself in a very difficult position…

I am 100% behind this and as I’ve said many times before from this dais, it’s been three years since my son committed suicide as a victim of the Lane County mental health system. He had nowhere to go. We worked through that very painfully as a family for two years, part of that happening.

[00:18:57] So I understand greatly and deeply how this facility will help save lives. And what I don’t want to do as a county commissioner is look families of Lane County in the eye for the next couple of years while we delay and kick this down the road and have other people and other family members suffer what my family did. So that’s not what I want to do…

Everybody knows we want this. The community needs it. We know it’s 99.9% sure going to go on that spot. But I want people who oppose it and have problems with how it went to be okay with it.

[00:19:28] And I want them to have the opportunity to voice their concerns and to voice their disappointment and their embarrassment and whatever other feelings they have about it, so we can clear the room of that baggage and move forward, even if everyone’s not on the same page. But at least everyone would have the opportunity to have vented appropriately, so they would at least be heard…

[00:19:47] And I think voting on this today just tells us: We don’t care about Springfield’s municipal partners, our mayor and our city councilors, of being heard properly. And so I’m going to have to not support this motion going forward and it angsts me dearly to say that because of the loss my family has and how important this thing is. But it’s important to me to get this right, when people in the community have felt like they’ve been stepped on.

[00:20:13] To that, I’ll call for the vote. All those in favor signify with an ‘Aye.’ (Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.) All those opposed? (Nay.) Thank you. The motion passes 4-1.

[00:20:22] Presenter: Lane County commissioners buy the land for the stabilization center and the new behavioral health hospital, Timber Springs, and Commissioner Loveall speaks on behalf of his Springfield constituents, who had different plans for that land.