Oct. 3, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Journey Group.

Work is moving from the outside in at Avera Behavioral Health, where a major expansion is on track for opening early next year.

And that can’t come soon enough, said Avera leaders, who are experiencing record need.

“We had a very busy 2020, the busiest summer on record,” said Thomas Otten, assistant vice president for Avera Behavioral Health Services.

“Usually, it would be slower that time of year, and 2021 was busier yet. So we have continued to experience incredible demand from patients needing inpatient care or outpatient treatment.”

That includes a significant number of children and adolescents, who will be among those served in the four-story, 56,000-square-foot addition at 4400 W. 69th St.

“They’ve come to us, and we’ve tried various innovative ideas to meet the needs, but none of those ideas are as good as getting them admitted immediately for the care they need,” Otten said. “So we’re super excited to get this open.”

Construction started late last year.

“You could tell Avera recognized the need for expansion to provide these services to the community,” said Tyson Ronne, project manager for construction manager at risk Journey Group. “Everyone on our team realizes this is needed too. There’s huge demand, and they were ready to move forward right away.”

Journey has wrapped up most exterior work, including three of four phases of the parking lot, which Journey’s Black-Top Paving will finish this fall, he said.

“As far as the building itself, the exterior is pretty much complete with all the windows in. We’re just waiting on metal panels on the building shell, and then inside we’re installing drywall and starting to paint, frame and do electrical, mechanical and plumbing rough-in as we work our way down the floors.”

The plaza level will include a first-of-its-kind center for the region – a 24/7 behavioral health urgent care.

“Our goal is to become very easy to access,” Otten said. “I probably get a call a week from families whose loved ones need critical mental health help and don’t know how to enter the system.”

The plaza level also will serve outpatients who come in for a partial hospital program, including a new program for adolescents, “so that will be a very important program to add to the continuum of care,” he said.

The first floor will connect with the adult behavioral health program and include four additional adult beds along with shell space for expansion.

“We originally had this as a three-story building, but with so much future need, our fundraising has supported building that additional space,” Otten said. “It’s been going exceedingly well, thanks to our exceptionally generous community and a $13 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.”

The second floor brings back a senior program that was relocated to Avera Prince of Peace, along with critically needed additional beds, growing the program from 14 to 20 beds.

The top floor is dedicated to kids, with 14 beds for children needing behavioral health, with eight beds dedicated to addiction care for adolescents.

“That’s a wonderful thing,” Otten said. “Child and adolescent is where we’ve had the biggest number of patients where we’ve not been able to meet the need.”

The outdoor space also will be utilized, with separate rooftop patios for geriatric and adult patients, plus an indoor play space for child patients and a courtyard for kids.

“And we’ve gone through an extensive process of finding artwork that reflects the values of the building – a sense of respect and dignity, a place that’s safe and secure, a sense of spirituality to treat mind, body and spirit, with a world-class feel,” Otten said.

Journey is starting with the top floor and working its way down, with the goal of finishing the top floor by early December.

“And we’ll work down month by month from there with the plan of wrapping up by mid-February,” Ronne said.

Journey “has been outstanding to work with – remarkable,” Otten said. “Days that were below zero, they were out there getting things accomplished. We meet regularly, and they’ve accommodated every need to get this done with extremely high quality and as quickly as possible to make sure we’re serving the community as best we can.”

Journey understands the urgency, Ronne said.

“With material delays, we really did our homework and procured everything in a timely fashion, and everything showed up when we needed it. We have a great subcontractor group, a lot of familiar team members, and everything has fallen into place,” he said.

“We have a great field staff, and it’s been a rewarding project to work on.”

The plan is to serve the first patients by mid-March.

With the opening now just months away, Avera also is ramping up its hiring for the expanded center.

“This is a wonderful time to get in on the ground floor of opportunities,” Otten said. “We’re posting positions in the child and adolescent behavioral health area, addiction counselors, geriatric staff, behavioral health technicians, partial hospitalization social workers and urgent care advanced practice providers, counselors, and nurses.”

To learn more and apply, click here.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to become part of a brand-new program that will change the trajectory of lives forever,” Otten said.