Kansas Governor Laura Kelly joined Wichita and Sedgwick County leaders Wednesday to break ground on the planned new South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital.
The hospital is being constructed on a 12-acre site just west of the intersection of Meridian and MacArthur, in southwest Wichita. It will be the first state hospital in south central Kansas but the third in the state that is focused on helping adults who are in a mental health crisis and people in the criminal justice system who need mental health care. Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter, who also took part in the groundbreaking, said the new hospital will ease overcrowding in the jail. Inmates who are found to be incompetent to stand trial can be taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Sedgwick County Commissioners took part in the groundbreaking along with former Commissioners Sarah Lopez and David Dennis.
The 104-bed hospital is expected to open by 2027.
