Ridgeview marks opening of new addition

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Ridgeview Behavioral Hospital marked the completion of its 16,500-square-foot addition with a ceremony held Thursday at its facility on Lincoln Highway.

Ridgeview Administrator Patrick Tracy had lots of praise for local officials who helped the facility get established in Van Wert County. He first singled out the Ridge Township Board of Trustees, which helped Ridgeview obtain an easement necessary to get the project off the ground.

Tracy first talked about the differences in establishing Ridgeview in a rural area such as Van Wert County, since most of parent company Oglethorpe Inc.’s facilities are in urban areas, noting that the process has been a very positive one.

“The county commissioners and the officials in the village of Middle Point were more welcoming than we’ve ever seen; it was just amazing,” he said.

“Without that, none of this would have happened,” Tracy noted.

He also thanked the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners for their assistance in the project.

“They have been a godsend to us in building the facility, and making it, and directing us in different ways,” Tracy added.

He also said he was grateful to County Economic Development Director Sarah Smith, who Tracy said helped explain the process for getting approval to build the addition and provided additional assistance to the project.

The new addition, which will officially open next month, takes Ridgeview’s capacity from a 40-bed inpatient psychiatric facility to more than double that at 84 beds. Employment will also significantly increase, from 150 employees to somewhere between 250 and 300 employees when the new addition is fully staffed.

The expansion features 46 additional patient rooms, offices, and many innovations installed and designed to improve patient safety and care.

The increase in employee wages for the center will also significantly increase, from $4.5 million to an estimated $9.2 million.

Tracy also stressed that, with most of Ridgeview’s employees living within a 30-inute drive of the Van Wert County facility, the incomes will remain in local communities, rather than going elsewhere.

“Basically, I’d say 80 percent of our staff live within about 30 minutes of the facility, and that translates into jobs and wages into the community,” he said.

One Ridgeview official said the new addition already has a waiting list of approximately 30 people and expects that figure to rise to more than 60 patients by the time the new addition is fully open prior to the end of the year.

With all of the benefits to the community in the form of increased patient capacity and additions in staff employment, Tracy said the main benefit is still the care patients will receive at the facility.

“The most exciting part in this whole process is being able to give quality patient care to the people out here,” Tracy said.