One of these four sites will be chosen for Sedgwick County’s 50-bed psychiatric hospital

Four possible sites across Sedgwick County have been identified for the construction of a 50-bed psychiatric hospital, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services announced ahead of a Tuesday town hall.

Sedgwick County has secured $40 million in state funds to pay for the facility, which would be operated by the state like Kansas’ other two psychiatric hospitals in Osawatomie and Larned.

One possible site is 2622 West Central Avenue and 723 North McLean Boulevard in Wichita, a property adjacent to the Sedgwick County Health Department’s main clinic.

Another option is on the outskirts of southwest Wichita at the corner of MacArthur and Meridian.

A third possible location is in Bel Aire at 53rd and Greenwich, and the final site identified is east of 85th and I-135 in Park City.

A committee of Sedgwick County and KDADS staff reviewed 11 properties before settling on the four possible hospital locations.

“A regional hospital in south central Kansas will address the shortage of in-patient mental health beds in the region and allow patients to remain closer to home and family while receiving care while also alleviating jail overcrowding by shortening the wait time for inmates pending evaluations or treatment,” a KDADS news release states.

A town hall on the hospital’s location will be hosted at the Hughes Metroplex from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will also be streamed on the KDADS YouTube channel.

After the meeting, public input will be included in a final site recommendation to the Sedgwick County Commission, which is expected to take the matter up on Dec. 20.

No date for beginning construction has been set, but because the county received $25 million from the state’s federal pandemic relief funds, the project timeline will have to keep up with federal requirements. Those benchmarks require a spending plan to be finalized by Dec. 31, 2024, and every dollar must be spend by the end of 2026.

This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 12:02 PM.