Londonderry mental health hospital receives conditional approval

Londonderry mental health hospital receives conditional approval

A new mental health facility has received conditional approval to be built on Innovation Drive in Londonderry.

The Londonderry Planning Board gave unanimous approval to Acadia Healthcare, a provider of behavioral health care across the country, and Solution-Health, the parent organization of Elliot Health in Manchester and Southern New Hampshire Health in Nashua.

The $60 million project would sit on 35 acres of land at Innovation Drive and Pettengill Road. The building would be an 88,870-square-foot, one-story facility that will admit patients from hospitals, emergency rooms and doctor referrals.

Ari Pollack, a lawyer representing the applicants, said there would be no ambulances driving up to the building and no lights or sirens at the privatized care center.

“Nobody just shows up at the door unannounced,” Pollack said. “They’re expected and awaited by staff.”

The hospital will be a 144-bed facility with the potential to expand to up to 192 beds. It will also create approximately 200 jobs.

The biggest concern for the hospital was what impact it would have on the local fire and police departments.

Police Chief Kim Bernard said his department is working closely with the Town Council, staff and the applicants to get an agreement set up on what the police department requirements would be for the hospital.

One of the conditions of the new hospital is coming to a solidified agreement with the police department. If an agreement cannot be reached, the plan will fail.

The representative from the Fire Department, Division Chief Brian Johnson, assured the board that, through studies they had conducted, the facility would only add on approximately 24 calls a year, less than 1% of the total emergency call volume they receive on average.

Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services Morissa Henn spoke in favor of the new hospital. She said it would help make up for some of the struggles with the lack of mental health beds that the state is currently facing.

“What excites me about this project, and what has earned the team the support of the state and a significant financial allocation of about $15 million, is the way it is tailored to meet the needs of New Hampshire,” Henn said. “It will help us as a state achieve what we have termed Mission 0, which is to have no adult waiting in an emergency department for (mental health) care.”

This article is being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.


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