Council Bluffs hospitals break ground on new mental health facility
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) - Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital and Acadia Healthcare Company broke ground on a new facility that is set to have a focus on mental health.
The future Jennie Edmundson Behavioral Health building will be located at 3620 S. 24th Street in Council Bluffs.
“According to American Hospital Directory data, there is a shortfall of more than 300 inpatient behavioral health beds in Iowa and Nebraska,” Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital President and CEO Dave Burd said. “This project demonstrates that the need for behavioral health care is urgent, not just nationally, but right here in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.”
The behavioral health hospital is set to feature 96 inpatient beds. 24 of those will be dedicated to caring for children and adolescents.
“Patients are languishing in emergency departments. They are languishing on medical, surgical floors,” President of Acadia Healthcare Dr. Jeffrey Woods said. “What they really need is state of the art, comprehensive mental health and substance abuse care.”
Burd told 6 News the project is estimated to cost $55,000,000 and would create 200 new jobs once it is open.
Dr. Syed Pirzada Sattar said the hospital is needed due to a lack of recourses in the Metro that meet the population’s mental health needs.
“We have a shortage of mental health providers, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, for adults, children and addiction treatment seekers,” Sattar said. “On top of that, we have a huge addiction issue going on with alcohol and with methamphetamines. We have also closed down the Glenwood Resource Center and all of those individuals that were housed there are now part of our community.”
Sattar continued, “All of that has continually stretched thin the resources that we have available for mental health treatment. So, that is why I believe this is so important.”
Methodist officials anticipate the building will be up and running sometime in early 2026.
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