Sept. 24, 2019

Less than two weeks after a tornado damaged much of the campus, Avera Behavioral Health Center is back to offering inpatient care.

The first of five nursing units for adults reopened Friday, and two more are scheduled to be open by the end of October. The two that sustained the most damage in a Sept. 10 tornado likely will take months to repair.

Clinic areas of the Avera Behavioral Health Center on West 69th Street reopened Sept. 16, including Avera Medical Group University Psychiatry Associates and Avera Medical Group Midwest Psychiatric Medicine. Outpatient clinic visits at Avera Professional Plaza at 33rd Street and Cliff Avenue remain open and fully operational.

Avera has doubled its capacity for intensive day programs to accommodate more patients, providing care during the day while patients return home at night and on the weekends.

All of Avera’s outpatient services of partial outpatient therapy and medication management, adolescent group therapy and ECT continue at their current locations at Avera Behavioral Health Center.

“Avera Behavioral Health leaders have made arrangements to provide ongoing high-quality inpatient services. Units have been created at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls for our pediatric population, and we continue to collaborate with the state to offer Avera behavioral health services at the Human Services Center in Yankton,” said Thomas Otten, assistant vice president for Avera Behavioral Health Services.

Patients in need of behavioral health assessment services should call the Behavioral Health Assessment Line at 605-322-4065 or 800-691-4336. Assessments are free and confidential and available 24/7. All in-person assessments are once again scheduled at the Avera Behavioral Health Center on a 24/7 basis as well. At the time of the assessment, the behavioral health team will determine if inpatient, partial or outpatient services are recommended.

“Despite the damages our facility in Sioux Falls has received, Avera will continue to be a leader in meeting mental health needs in our region,” Otten said. “Patients should feel assured they can continue to reach out to access our services by calling 605-322-4065 or 1-800-691-4336.”

Most Avera facilities in Sioux Falls have reopened after the recent storm damage:

• Avera Medical Group University Psychiatry Associates and Avera Medical Group Midwest Psychiatric Medicine reopened in the Avera Behavioral Health Center on Sept 16.
• Avera Heart Hospital is fully operational.
• North Central Heart Institute clinic reopened at its location in the Avera Heart Hospital on Sept. 16.
• At the Avera Sports Institute on 44th Place near Costco, Avera Therapy, Athletic Republic training, AR-Fit training and triathlon training are fully operational in the hard structure. The dome remains unusable.

Avera’s central corporate office near Avera Behavioral Health Center also was heavily damaged. Those employees have been moved to other offices and likely won’t be able to return to the headquarters for months.