A proposed 120-bed mental health facility near the District at Eastlake on Showroom Place has drawn criticism from community members. The Acadia Healthcare, a Tennessee-based for-profit, and Scripps Health facility was first announced in February and a formal application was submitted in May.
If approved the facility will be completed in 2023 on the cul-de-sac at the end of Showroom Place.
The facility will replace Scripps Health’s existing 36-bed inpatient behavioral health unit at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and will be divided into six 20-bed units, with two unassigned units used to either treat adolescent and adult patients or specific groups, such as veterans or members of the military, Western Division President for Acadia Healthcare Dwight Lacy wrote in an email.
However, community members are concerned that having an inpatient mental health facility so close to schools and neighborhoods could be dangerous.
Chula Vista SAFE, a grass roots community organization started in response to the proposed mental health facility, has gone door to door handing out flyers outlining their concerns. The organization also created an online petition to relocate the facility and has more than 4,000 signatures from the community.
“I just don’t understand why someone would stand on the lot and think this is a great idea,” Chula Vista SAFE member and Eastlake resident Ian Burgar said.
The facility will provide specialized treatment, including intensive outpatient treatment services for patients with conditions such as major depression, severe anxiety, suicidal ideation, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Lacy wrote.
The new facility and partnership is meant to increase the capacity for inpatient behavioral health services in San Diego and provide more than 150 new jobs to the area, according to Scripps Health’s website.
“Scripps and Acadia are committed to engaging with the public in a transparent and collaborative manner,” Senior Director of Media Relations for Scripps Health Janice Collins wrote in an email.
While Burgar and Chula Vista SAFE have met with three city council members, including council district representative John McCann, and the project manager of the planning commission, he said Scripps Healthcare had promised a meeting and then backed out.
Burgar said he believes Acadia Healthcare was trying “to avoid tough questions.”
Samantha Tricky, senior council aide for McCann, said that an open house forum with Acadia Healthcare and Scripps Health is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 26 at Montevalle Recreation Center in Rolling Hills Ranch and will have a Q&A and open forum.
“We plan to keep the local community closely informed throughout the review and approval process, including holding a community open house to dispel myths and solicit constructive input,” Collins wrote.
Councilmember McCann could not share whether he was for or against the proposed facility in Eastlake because it would be illegal to share his stance before the final vote, Tricky said.
In one of the documents created by Chula Vista SAFE, there are references to several allegations and lawsuits citing sexual assault and abuse against Acadia Healthcare. In San Diego County, there have been five civil cases against Acadia Healthcare by former employees.
In one case against Acadia Healthcare facility Fashion Valley Comprehensive Treatment Center, a former employee alleges that a patient registered on the sex offender list and in her Substance Abuse Program came into her office and masturbated in front of her despite her protests — her employer did not take any action regarding the incident. In another case a former nurse alleges that Acadia Healthcare did not have adequate security to handle patients coming off of heavy drugs, often yelling at nurses and threatening employees with weapons.
In April the Chicago Tribune reported a story on dozens of sexual assault allegations against a counselor at an Acadia owned treatment facility for women and girls in Illinois. In the same month the Nashville Post reported that an Acadia facility in New Mexico was shut down after seven lawsuits claiming physical and sexual abuse.
Then again in April reports of a 9-year-old girl at an Acadia facility in Montana being injected with Benadryl and antihistamines for misbehavior stirred outrage.
Reports of sexual assault, negligence, abuse, wrongful death or unethical labor practices in the past five years have been reported at Acadia facilities in at least 24 states, according to state inspection reports and court documents. Acadia Healthcare has locations across 40 U.S. states as well as the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico, according to their website.
While Burgar said that he believes mental health services are a critical need in San Diego, it is the operator that is concerning.
“I’m 110 percent certain I would not let any of my loved ones receive in or out patient care from a company like Acadia,” Burgar said.
These incidents are isolated and only make up a small percentage of patients and cases treated every year, Lacy wrote. In the last three and a half years, Lacy wrote that the rate of “grave and serious incidents is extremely small” making up 0.0099 percent of over 540,000 admissions in 8.6 million treatment days.
“In the rare instance where an outcome or event at an Acadia treatment facility deviates from our high standards and expectations, we fully investigate the situation to determine lessons learned and whether updates to procedures and policies are warranted,” Lacy wrote.
Several of the incidents that have occurred at facilities across the country include lawsuits against Acadia, which Lacy wrote is also rare compared to the national average.
Resident Bibi Luko said the proximity of the mental health facility to schools and family friendly businesses is a concern because it is not clear if patients and staff will be screened on the sex offender list, which could violate Jessica’s Law.
“We don’t know if they check patients before they are admitted,” Luko said.
The law was passed in California in 2006 and prevents sex offender parolees released after Nov. 8, 2006 from living within 2,000 feet from any school or park where children are present, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The closest school to the proposed facility is Kid Ventures Montessori Academy, a preschool in the District at Eastlake on Showroom Place less than 500 feet from the proposed location.
While Lacy wrote that it does perform background checks on employees, vendors and physicians, it is prohibited from screening patients based on criminal history because of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and other statutes. The EMTALA says that treatment must be provided to a patient in an emergency situation until they are stabilized, regardless of whether or not they can pay.
However, community members are concerned of whether or not the city and Acadia Healthcare will be able to provide the needed security and police for the facility.
Lacy wrote that the Eastlake facility will have fencing and landscape barriers, 24-hour security patrols, controlled access to the facility, a single entrance and exit on Showroom Place, security cameras, and minimum 15-minute safety checks on patients to try and control elopements, which is when a patient leaves the facility without consent or knowledge of staff.
“The placement of the facility is maybe well intentioned, but poorly thought out,” Burgar said. “Why would you put a facility that requires heavy police force in a residential community?”
If the facility is approved during the planning commission voting, then community members can appeal it, and if denied, Acadia Healthcare can appeal the decision, said Burgar.
However, the project is still in the infancy stages of conditional approval, Tricky said.
“I think that mental health services in San Diego County are underserviced and needed, but I am 100 percent against this operator,” Burgar said. “Should this operator be approved and it built, we will move.”
CORRECTIONS: In a previous edition of this story it was incorrectly stated a proposed mental health facility will replace an Acadia Healthcare health unit. The facility will replace Scripps Health’s existing 36-bed inpatient behavioral health unit at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego.
It was also incorrectly stated that Acadia Healthcare has 40 locations across the U.S. Acadia Healthcare has locations across 40 U.S. states as well as the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.
It was also stated Ian Burgar had said Acadia Healthcare had promised a meeting and then backed out. Burgar clarified it was Scripps Healthcare that had promised a meeting and backed out.
The Star-News regrets the errors.
After the story was published a spokesperson for Scripps Health emailed The Star-News:
“It’s not an accurate characterization to say we ‘backed out’ of the meeting you referred to in your article. Rather, the city of Chula Vista, Scripps and Acadia collectively agreed that a community meeting is the most appropriate way to inform the public and answer questions about the planned facility. This is the goal of our Sept. 26 community open house.”
