Tufts Medicine Behavioral Health Hospital opens next month
The hospital will train Tufts medical students and consolidate inpatient services in a facility designed specifically for psychiatric care.
By Crystal Yormick | Correspondent
A new behavioral health hospital will open in Malden in March on the site of the former Malden Hospital.
The 144-bed Tufts Medicine Behavioral Health Hospital, which is a collaboration between Tufts University and Acadia Healthcare, will train Tufts medical students and consolidate inpatient services in a facility designed specifically for psychiatric care.
Malden Mayor Gary Christenson said the city has been trying to find a use for the building at 100 Hospital Road for over two decades.
“To finally see a project like this one involving behavioral health is a great feeling for our city,” Christenson said.
Dr. Brent Forester, director of behavioral health at Tufts Medicine, wrote in an emailed statement that community stakeholders had expressed they wanted to see the property return to health care use.
About two-thirds of the beds at the hospital will be new, while the others will be transferred from MelroseWakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford. The behavioral health hospital is where patients facing mental health issues will be directed if they first go to other medical facilities in the area.
“We expect that the additional bed capacity will help relieve pressure across the broader Massachusetts behavioral health system,” Forester wrote.
Other considerations for the space included housing, senior living, city services and a park, Christenson said.
Ward 3 City Councilor Amanda Linehan said she has not heard any concerns about the space being used as a hospital instead of housing. In the past, when the area was considered for multi-family housing, she said, there was so much backlash that the developer withdrew the project.
Linehan said she has been impressed by how much the community has supported the project. While she thinks concerns could come up once the hospital opens, she said, “We will address them as they do, like you would with any new development.”
Linehan and Christenson both said the pandemic is part of the reason the community has supported the plan for the behavioral hospital.
“[Mental health was] something that made sense to people in a new way,” Linehan said. “The pandemic re-framed how people think about mental health and mental health needs because so many people had suffered isolation and loss and grief.”
The city plans to buy back a few acres of land on the site next to the hospital and install benches and trails there for the public to enjoy, according to Christenson.
The hospital, which will serve adults and children, will provide behavioral health treatment like therapies, psychiatric evaluations, outpatient programs, medication management, hospitalization, and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders.
The staff will include psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, therapists, social workers, and other behavioral health professionals. It will also serve as a teaching site in collaboration with the Tufts University School of Medicine.
Expanding training capacity at a time when the state and nation are facing a shortage of behavioral health professionals is essential, Forester wrote.
He wrote there is a “critical need” for increased behavioral health capacity in the state. Because of the insufficient amount of psychiatric inpatient beds, patients can sometimes be stuck in emergency departments for days, he wrote, and he cited a recent study that found that about 12% of pediatric visits to the ER for mental health concerns last for about three or more days before an inpatient bed is available.
Christenson said he is thrilled to have a Tufts hospital in the community because of its strong reputation. And because it is a for-profit hospital, it will add property tax revenue to the city.
The hospital has begun onboarding clinical staff and will start accepting patients by the end of March.
Crystal Yormick is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between Gotta Know Medford and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
