(AP) — A non-profit organization in Mississippi wants to repurpose a former hospital to provide behavioral and mental health services.
A Clear Path: Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health was planning to establish a crisis stabilization unit at the old Natchez Community Hospital, The Natchez Democrat reported.
Patients who are not criminals are temporarily held at the Adams County Jail until they can be taken to the Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield, about 100 miles away, officials said. The proposed eight-bed crisis stabilization unit could save the county money for patients who are in psychiatric distress with nowhere else to go.
The organization wants to use an $800,000 grant to supply the in-patient care, Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said at a Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday.
The grant puts the group about $150,000 shy of the total cost of the project, Adams County Attorney Scott Slover said.