Governor Gretchen Whitmer gathered with state and local officials Monday for an open house commemorating the completion of the new 100-bed Caro Psychiatric Hospital.
The official re-opening occurred on June 5 and saw Tuscola County representatives proud and relieved that their efforts had come to fruition after several years of work and negotiations.
Starting in 2017, efforts to replace the Caro Regional Center, rather than build a new State Psychiatric Facility, were made by the Caro and Tuscola County community, including a plea by the Tuscola County Board of Commissioners for citizens to “write Governor Whitmer [as a] decision to not build this facility here and the loss of approximately 360 jobs would be devastating to area families and would have huge negative impacts on our local economy which will impact everyone.” The hospital, which is the second largest employer in Tuscola County, has served Michigan residents since 1914.
Local pleas were heard, as later that year, the state legislature authorized financing to construct a new hospital on the Caro site, with the new Caro Psychiatric Hospital scheduled to be completed in 2021 and serve 200 adults, an increase of 50 beds from the previously existing facility. However, citing “concerns about staffing, ability for patients’ families to be involved in their treatment and water accessibility,” the state paused the project in March 2019 to bring “an outside consultant to review the project and recommend next steps to best meet the needs of Michigan’s citizens.”
In private, discussions were had at the state level to scrap the $115 million project. Local State Reps. Phil Green and Matthew Bierlein and District 26 (then District 31) Senator Kevin Daley participated in several bipartisan negotiations, with the project resuming in late 2019.
The 127,000 square-foot Caro Psychiatric Hospital offers four separate patient neighborhoods/units, each decorated with therapeutic colors reflecting seasonal color schemes for winter, spring, summer and fall. Rooms are mainly single-bed suites with private bathrooms, with some double rooms and others set up to care for geriatric patients. A downtown-themed area offers patients a hair care salon, exercise room, greenhouse and recreation room.
Other patient amenities include a gymnasium with audiovisual system for events and outside courtyards for recreational space. The facility also includes updated HVAC and building management systems, building access controls and video surveillance for enhanced patient safety. Modernized spaces for staff treatment consultations, meetings and breakroom spaces are also featured in the new hospital.
The $85 million hospital replaces Caro Center, which was constructed in 1913. Opened as the Caro Farm Colony for Epileptics, it served as the only State of Michigan residential treatment center for individuals with seizure disorders until 1997, with mental health services starting at the center in 1973.
The construction manager for the project was Granger Construction, with design services provided by Integrated Design Solutions.
The state operates five inpatient hospitals that serve nearly 650 patients, with the Caro Psychiatric Hospital one of three serving adult patients.
