Jackson County barely lost out as the site for a proposed 360-bed psychiatric hospital Wednesday, with Junction City getting the nod from Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
Salem was picked as the site for a 620-bed mental health hospital that would replace the current aging facility in that city at a cost of $250 million.
The governor's recommendation, which was sent to the Legislature for approval, proposes building the new Salem facility by 2011 and the Junction City hospital, north of Eugene, by 2013.
Jackson County commissioners had voiced support for a mental health hospital on state-owned land on Foothill Road, but state officials gave that property low marks in their evaluation of potential sites.
Instead, property at the intersection of Highway 62 and East Vilas Road came in second behind the Junction City property.
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Some of the criteria state officials used to prioritize the sites included proximity to public transportation, ease of developing the property, access to professional staff, community support and complexity of zoning changes.
Based on these criteria, the Junction City site, which sits on flat farmland, received a score by state officials of 322 compared to 311 for the Highway 62 property. The Foothill Road property, located in a valley, came in a distant eighth on the list at 209.
Altogether, the state looked at five different properties in Jackson County as part of its search for a hospital.
County Commissioner C.W. Smith, responding to news that Jackson County is no longer in the running, said, "We are naturally disappointed."
Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, supported building a hospital in Jackson County, but said the reality is that most of the population of the state lives up north. "It's tough, but I'm accepting it," said Bates, a doctor. "We've lost this one."
Even though the Junction City hospital will be just an hour's drive south of the Salem facility, Bates said the location will result in significantly shorter driving times for residents in surrounding areas compared to a Jackson County site.
The state hospitals provide a place for people who are a danger to themselves or others, people who aren't able to care for themselves or people who have been found guilty of a crime because of a mental illness. Also, the hospital accepts elderly people who can no longer care for themselves because of a mental illness.
About two-thirds of the patients committed to the hospital are sent by Oregon's criminal courts. About 100 are sent because they are incompetent to stand trial.
The state hospital in Salem, which gained notoriety in the book and movie titled "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," has one building that dates back to 1883. Other structures contain asbestos and lead and don't meet current seismic and fire risks.
Hank Collins, county health director, said Jackson County appears to have lost out on a psychiatric hospital because of the sheer number of patients at the state hospital from the northern part of the state.
As of Wednesday, state health reports show that out of 740 patients at the hospital, 38 are from Jackson County, 21 from Klamath County, 20 from Douglas County, 10 from Josephine County and three from Curry County. Multnomah County has the largest share of patients — 237 — in the state, followed by Lane County at 98.
Collins said Jackson County also has three local facilities with 34 beds for patients who would otherwise be sent to the state mental hospital.
Collins said many counties have developed their own programs to deal with patients so they don't have to be sent up north. "It's a hassle for us to have to go up there," he said. "It's a hassle for families and it's a hassle for the patients."
As part of the governor's recommendation, about $24 million will go toward creating more beds in outlying areas in small facilities, he said.
Collins said he doesn't know yet how many beds that would mean for Jackson County, but he said there is definitely a need for more hospitals.
"Right now the system is stacked up," he said. "People are waiting weeks and weeks to get a bed."
Reporter Damian Mann: 776-4476 or dmann@mailtribune.com.
