Construction is almost complete on a new children’s behavioral health facility to serve the Peoria area.
Trillium Place Young Minds Center will have 44 beds for inpatient services. Mary Sparks Thompson, president of Trillium Place, said there is a great need for those services for children in Peoria.
“We send children away from Peoria on a regular basis because we just do not have enough resources for them here,” she said. “So to be able to treat those children at home enhances their care.”
Currently, children in crisis have to be sent up to two hours away for services, she said, which only further disrupts their lives. Thompson said it’s difficult for parents in that situation to have to travel to visit their child.
Trillium Place, an affiliate of Carle Health, also will move outpatient services to the facility. That includes prescribing providers, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists and counseling services.
“Then, we'll be expanding to include what's called an intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization program, which is a program that offers intensive outpatient level of care that helps stabilize post discharge,” Thompson said. “We're hoping to also prevent hospitalization for some children that may benefit from that type of care.”
The facility will serve youth age 4 through 17.
The center is being built in the former Heddington Oaks Nursing Home, 2223 W. Heading Ave., in West Peoria.
Eric Rasmussen, a construction specialist at Carle Health, said the building is fairly new, which made the reconstruction easier. He said the facility is around 100,000 square feet, and he anticipates construction will be completed by July.
“There's still some painting and finishing,” he said. “A lot of trim work. Drywall and framing goes quickly. But the small things take a little bit longer.”
Rasmussen said the facility includes a lot of bright colors and different shapes to make it more comfortable for children. Safety in the rooms is also essential, with everything down to the screws designed so they can’t be tampered with.
Thompson said children’s behavioral health is a crisis nationally as well as locally, with many communities across the country not offering the needed services. She hopes this facility will be a start for minimizing that crisis in the Peoria area.
“We're also working with external community partners to provide adjacent services to the services that we provide,” she said. “So we’ll be a one stop shop, or wraparound type services, for our children in our community.”
Furniture, decor and medical supplies will be brought in after construction is completed. The facility is expected to open sometime this fall.
