<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1jOH4U_0wCk02Iz00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1jOH4U_0wCk02Iz00" width="789" height="753" ><figcaption>A rendering of the new Western State Hospital campus in Lakewood Courtesy Washington State Department of Social and Health Services</figcaption></figure>Gov. Jay Inslee and other state leaders broke ground Thursday on a new mental-health hospital to be built on the Western State Hospital campus in Lakewood, a project expected to be complete by 2029.The hospital will be a secure facility with 350 beds to serve forensic patients. Forensic patients are those accused of a crime and ordered by a court to receive treatment before trial, according to a governor’s office blog post.The new hospital will serve as a Forensic Center of Excellence for forensic patients, according to a Washington State Department of Social and Health Services website on the project.It will “focus on providing state-of-the-art care for forensic patients, operating in an environment of care that supports safety and the delivery of evidenced-based and proven practices, and working hand in hand with local academic institutions to support research and innovation,” the DSHS site said.The facility will cost $947 million, according to a report in The Seattle Times.Inslee in 2018 announced a five-year plan to create more community-based care settings that could treat civil patients and to limit institutionalization at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals for forensic patients, the governor’s office blog noted.The new facility will reflect a modern, patient-centric approach, with bricks and bars replaced by glass and daylight, the post said, adding that nature-inspired design will reinforce the hospital’s therapeutic environment.“Today is a groundbreaking for this facility, but in a sense it’s a groundbreaking for how we provide mental-health services,” Inslee said in the post. “It is part and parcel of our efforts to care for our family members, our community members, who run into mental-health challenges — this is a very Washingtonian thing to do.”The DSHS site noted that while the new hospital requires demolishing some buildings on the Western State Hospital campus, the new facility will augment, not replace, the majority of the existing structures.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Ground Broken for New State Mental-Health Hospital in Lakewood

Gov. Jay Inslee and other state leaders broke ground Thursday on a new mental-health hospital to be built on the Western State Hospital campus in Lakewood, a project expected to be complete by 2029. The hospital will be a secure facility with 350 beds to serve forensic patients. Forensic patients...