The first concrete pier for the Kim & Dade Phelan Behavioral Sciences Center in Beaumont has been poured. The facility, which promises to be the premier mental health treatment facility in Southeast Texas, will serve as a major addition to current services provided by Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas.
The upgraded mental health facility is adding 62,840 square feet and 36 new patient rooms to create a 94,000 square-foot, three-story treatment hospital.
Former Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, of Beaumont, who secured $70 million in state funding to make the project possible, told The Examiner "This is a monumental day for healthcare in Southeast Texas because mental health is healthcare and now we will have a facility that will be modernized for today and beyond standards" Phelan added patients will be welcomed. "When you walk in, it will feel like a mental health hospital and a feeling of art"
David LaMonte, CEO of Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, says "We are adding 72 beds to their current 72 bed inpatient hospital. This expansion is sorely needed in Southeast Texas as we are really the only behavioral health facility in these parts" The facility provides inpatient behavioral health, adolescence and adult psychology.
All building work, under guidance of H.B. Neild Construction, at 3250 Fannin Street in Beaumont, will take place without interrupting the facility's day-day services. Construction is already underway and is expected to take 20-24 months to complete.
Baptist