© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Government

Psych Hospital Plan Back Before State Panel

A controversial plan to build a psychiatric hospital in the Quad Cities goes back before a state panel Thursday. Two weeks ago, the Iowa State Health Facilities Council held a hearing, but adjourned after 10 hours of testimony. 

A Tennessee-based company called Strategic Behavioral Health would like to build a 72 bed hospital in Bettendorf, and needs permission from the council. But the plan is opposed by the two hospital groups in the Quad Cities, Unity Point and Genesis Health System. They say they're expanding the mental health services they offer, and a stand-alone psychiatric hospital is not needed.

Earlier this year when it was short one member, the council split 2 to 2 on the proposal. But all five seats are now filled, so it could make a decision on the application by Strategic Behavioral Health for a "certificate of need."

The hearing will be held in Des Moines. 
 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.