News

 A residential psychiatric treatment facility for children is expected to open in Charleston early next year.

 

Highland Hospital plans to open the 24-bed facility in its original building in Charleston's Kanawha City neighborhood. The hospital moved to an adjacent site in 2012.

 

Media outlets report that Highland Hospital CEO Cynthia Persily outlined plans for the children's facility on Monday during a Kanawha County Board of Education meeting. Persily told the board that the facility will provide treatment for children ages 4 to 14 in a community-style setting.

 

Persily says 300 to 500 children in West Virginia are being treated for psychiatric illnesses at out-of-state centers. The state is paying for this care.

 

Persily says Highland's facility will reduce the state's costs by half.