By Greg Paeth
NKyTribune Senior Reporter
Covington Mayor Sherry Carran and City Manager Larry Klein sounded certain recently that a 197-bed specialty hospital that will include treatment for drug addiction would be built on Farrell Drive near the Covington-Ft. Wright border line.
That looks extremely doubtful now.
Carran said last week that she has been told that the Farrell Drive site off of Kyles Lane is no longer being considered because of problems with access to the site and that the site itself is hilly, which could increase both the engineering and construction costs.
Carran said the developers are now looking for a level piece of ground and that she doesn’t know if any other sites in Covington would be considered.
A person familiar with the site selection process confirmed that the Farrell Drive site is no longer under consideration because of the reasons outlined by the mayor. The person confirmed the mayor’s comments but declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak for the partnership that is building the facility.
St. Elizabeth Healthcare, one of the three partners behind a project that could cost $40 million, had said that the Farrell Drive property was one of three or four sites in Kenton County that were being considered for the hospital.
St. Elizabeth, SUN Behavioral Health and NorthKey Community Care announced last month that they planned to work together on building the hospital but didn’t specify a location.
“There is nothing definitive about where it will be located. Nothing is etched in stone,” Guy Karrick, a spokesman for St. Elizabeth, had said when asked about the Farrell Drive property. He said the hospital hopes to find a site in Kenton County.
The Farrell Drive property that had been considered for the project is owned by NorthKey, a not-for-profit that was originally known as the Northern Kentucky Mental Health-Mental Retardation Regional Board. Its administrative offices as well as treatment programs for children and adolescents who have emotional problems are located on Farrell Drive.
Karrick said he did not know where the other sites are. He predicted that a location might be selected by the fall and that groundbreaking for the new facility would be held sometime early next year.
Karrick said the hospital is prepared for some public opposition because the new facility’s services would include treatment for drug addiction, including addiction to heroin, a drug whose abuse has skyrocketed in recent years, creating a flood of emergency room visits for people who have overdosed and a growing list of heroin overdose fatalities.
St. Elizabeth emergency rooms in Covington and four other Northern Kentucky cities handled 122 overdose emergencies in March. That total was nearly three times the volume from March of last year, according to information supplied by Karrick. Statistics for April of this year are not yet available.
The NorthKey property is about one block from Ft. Wright Elementary School, which shares the hilltop location along with St. Charles Community, which provides a long list of services, including residential facilities, for senior citizens. Atria Highland Crossing, which offers assisted and independent living for seniors, also is located on Farrell Drive.
Karrick said a school and a facility that serves senior citizens are located near St. Elizabeth’s largest hospital in Edgewood, where the hospital has 140 beds that are devoted to people who have addiction and/or psychological issues. He said that to his knowledge there have been no problems in Edgewood that are linked to the treatment facility for addicts.
Ft. Wright City Administrator Gary Huff said he and Mayor Dave Hatter met with representatives of the hospital partnership a few weeks ago.
He said he has heard from a few residents who are alarmed about the proposed hospital and its proximity to the school. Hatter has asked for additional information from the partnership, Huff said.
In an interview before the partnership decided to rule out the Farrell Drive property, Huff pointed out that access to the property could be a major problem. Heading west off of 3-L Highway, Kyles Lane winds up a steep incline where the turn onto Farrell for westbound traffic is difficult because of the hilly topography. Huff said he’s been told that improving the T-intersection at Kyles and Farrell could cost “several million dollars.”
OKI Regional Council of Governments, an agency that plays a major role in transportation planning for the region, said the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has estimated that it would cost $7.1 million to improve Kyles Lane from Farrell Drive to Mount Vernon, a street that leads back to a subdivision in Ft. Wright. The distance between the two streets is estimated at about two-tenths of a mile.
Under the plan that was unveiled last month, St. Elizabeth would transfer its licenses for 140 “behavioral health and chemical dependency” beds to the new hospital while NorthKey would transfer 57 beds, which would create the 197-bed capacity for the new facility. Hospitals have to file so-called “certificates of need” with the state when they want to add capacity or transfer capacity from one facility to another.
The theory is that controlling capacity will eliminate the overbuilding of expensive health care facilities and, presumably, keep beds filled and costs down.
Whether it’s built in Covington or elsewhere, Carran said she supports the project.
“I’ve been in favor of it from the get go,” she said. “I like the consolidation (of NorthKey and St. Elizabeth) and I like the location. It’s not next to any residential property and the green space can be very healing for patients.”
Carran said there is a “huge need” for facilities that can help people deal with addiction, especially to heroin, which is a growing problem in and around Covington. Carran represents the City of Covington on the board that oversees the Northern Kentucky Health Department.
Klein said the new hospital could provide the city with additional payroll tax and property tax revenue. He said no estimate has been provided about how much payroll tax would be generated by the new hospital.
The original news release last month estimated that the new hospital would have 400 employees, including about 270 jobs that would be new to the city.
The city’s payroll tax is 2.45 percent. But the city has an incentive plan in place that would cut the rate could in half for five to 10 years. The length of the tax break period hinges on how many new jobs are created in the city.
Last month the three partners said the hospital would be jointly owned by St. Elizabeth Healthcare and SUN Behavioral Health, which is based in New Jersey.
“We all believe and have consistently said that a comprehensive solution to behavioral health issues involves substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, law enforcement, family support, community support and education,” Garren Colvin, St. Elizabeth Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, said at the time. “All of the organizations involved want to be part of the solution, and this collaboration is an important piece of the puzzle.”
The joint venture complements other recently announced initiatives that will add to the overall services available in Northern Kentucky, the partnership said in its announcement. The partners specifically mentioned St. Elizabeth’s partnership with Hazelden/Betty Ford, the integration of behavioral health counseling services into St. Elizabeth Physicians primary care practices, and the behavioral health/chemical dependency screening programs implemented in physician practices and maternal fetal offices.
“This type of endeavor reflects the long held tradition of Northern Kentucky bringing resources together to meet the needs of the community in a progressive and efficient manner,” Dr. Owen Nichols, who heads NorthKey, said when the announcement was made. “Our community is faced with many behavioral healthcare challenges at this time and the heroin epidemic has brought this to the forefront of our collective awareness, but chemical dependency is just one element of our broader community needs, which must be addressed in a collaborative fashion…”
NorthKey is a private not-for-profit center that provides mental health, substance abuse, and intellectual and developmental disabilities services to children, adolescents and adults in Northern Kentucky. NorthKey operates 17 outpatient offices in eight counties: Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, Owen and Pendleton.