The first psychiatric residential treatment facility for young people and children is being developed in Saco by Sweetser, one of the largest community mental health providers in Maine.
This facility will be a two-story building spanning 8,000 square feet and will be on Sweeter's campus in Saco. It will have 16 beds and will provide 24 hours a day psychiatric care in a secure setting. This would be the first psychiatric residential treatment facility in Maine.
Brochure printing can be used by such facilities to provide more details about their planned acre and services.
Jayne Van Bremer, the president and CEO of Sweetser, said that Department of Health and Human Services officials said that the rates of MaineCare would be viable for the facility, so the non-profit organization is going ahead with an application. She said that that facility will be for those under the age of 21 who have severe mental health issues, and there will be crisis workers, clinicians, psychiatrists, and nursing staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Van Bremer added that there will also be therapy for families.
Van Bremer said that this facility could help to bring back to Maine some of the 70 young people who are in treatment facilities as far away as Arizona. She added that it would keep children out of emergency departments and prevent children from leaving the state for the care they need.
