27 February 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A town hall meeting was held Monday night for people to learn more about the new South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital going in southwest Wichita at MacArthur and Meridian.
The facility will serve adults in a mental health crisis and those needing court-ordered evaluation or treatment. Some of the people attending the meeting were worried about the location because there are many schools nearby.
“There’s other places that are already available for what they’re talking about, and they’re gonna have to ship people,” said Catherine Deal, who opposes the location.
Some at the meeting say they are happy with the location because it means that south-central Kansas will be getting its own state psychiatric hospital, and people will no longer have to travel to Osawatomie or Larned.
“Aside from just the convenience for families and getting people there, it’s that these services are so limited in the existing hospitals,” said Jerry Lichti, who supports the location.
The hope is to start construction sometime in 2025, and it could be open by 2027.
For more information about the South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital, click here.