By Elana Gordon
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-990028.mp3
KANSAS CITY, Ks. – Most beds at Rainbow Mental Health, the region's public psychiatric hospital on the Kansas side, will soon be out of service. The state fire marshal cited the 36-bed facility in Kansas City, Kansas last month for safety violations.
The failed inspection means the state will close Rainbow for six to eight months to make necessary renovations, according to Kansas Department of Social Services Secretary, Robert Seidlecki. Upgrades will include installing a new sprinkler system and building smoke-barrier walls.
The situation adds to growing concerns by local law enforcement and mental health advocates that the state may permanently shut down Rainbow. Amid budget shortfalls, Kansas officials have considered closing the facility in the past.
Seidlecki, however, stresses that the closure of beds will be temporary.
"All we are doing is just bringing up the facility to code. It's a 38-year-old building," says Seidlecki. "To protect the safety of residents there, we've got to make a whole bunch of renovations to the building."
Within the next couple weeks, patients at Rainbow will move to the state's mental hospital in Osawatomie. The renovations will cost about $575,000, which Seidlecki says the agency does have.
Meanwhile, some staff will stay at Rainbow to help with emergency situations.
"We're going to keep the small [eight-bed] north unit open for admissions and evaluations at Rainbow," says Seidlecki. "So patients can be treated during their first 24 to 96 hours of hospitalization."
If patients need more intensive services after that point, they'll be transferred to Osawatomie.
SRS staff met with local officials, police, and mental health directors yesterday to flush out details of the plan. Despite hearing reassurances that Rainbow would reopen, State Representative Kathy Wolfe Moore of Kansas City, Kansas was still worried after the meeting about whether that would happen.
In the meantime, she says the temporary closure is likely to bring added strain to the region's mental health system. Sheriff deputies, she said, will now have to transport patients too violent for staff to handle moving - about one in five - out to Osawatomie, requiring more time and resources.
Earlier this year, Rainbow shut down 14 other beds because a federal review found the facility was understaffed.
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