However, to do so, the hospital needs more space than the current therapy department offers.

The project is still in its earliest stages, hospital Chief Executive Officer Michelle Sleiter said. Right now, the hospital is working with an architect to work through the design, which will then be presented to the hospital’s Board of Trustees to approve the project and design.

When the HCMH Therapy and Counseling center was established in July 2019 with the hiring of one full-time licensed mental health counselor, the hospital just found existing space within the hospital campus to provide the service, Sleiter said.

“And just with life as we know it today, the volume and those seeking services has continued to increase,” she said.

In April 2020, space was added to accommodate two providers by taking square footage from the ER and infusion waiting room. A month later, in May 2020, a second full-time provider was added. Now, the hospital is looking at the need to add a third provider to the practice.

The other half of the story is the space the counseling department took over from the ER and infusion center is needed by its original occupants.

“Our emergency room volumes are much higher, and our infusion business is higher with a lot of our COVID services that we’re offering,” Sleiter said. “And so by moving mental health to a different location, that will allow them to take that space back over again.”

The project proposal is for a 3,000-square-foot single-story addition to the HCMH with an additional 600 square feet of renovation. The addition would be used for outpatient therapy and counseling services, with access to the new space being through the existing hospital corridor.

In November, the HCMH Board of Trustees approved a contract with Atura Architecture of Clear Lake for $83,000 to create the design plans. The new space is expected to include a private entrance and exit, a waiting room, a patient resource room, receptionist space, four provider offices, one nurse space, three counseling rooms, two play therapy spaces, two exam rooms and a restroom.

The addition is being designed to provide what the hospital needs today, as well as what it might need in the future for mental health services, Sleiter said.

“We just want to be prepared to continue to grow as the world needs us to,” she said.

The expected cost of the project is about $1,000,000, Sleiter said.

Currently, the space used by the counseling department has a small waiting room, two offices, one play therapy space and one therapy space.

Nolan Vitzthum, a licensed independent social worker and registered play therapist, is currently the only provider at the HCMH counseling department. She currently has an active caseload of about 50 patients, while the ideal active caseload is about 30 patients. She receives an average of 15 new patient referrals each week and her waiting list is about 20.

Possible funding options for the project that Sleiter presented to the board in November include hospital equity, the USDA’s Emergency Rural Health Care Grant Program that would cover up to 15% of the project costs, support from the HCMH Foundation, COVID funding, an economic development loan from Midland and Corn Belt Power at 1% interest over 10 years, or a combination of all five.

Sleiter said she hopes the project will break ground by March or April 2022 and be finished by the end of the year. She estimates the build will take six to nine months.