Expanded mental healthcare offerings are coming to rural communities in the Texas Panhandle.
In Amarillo, a $159 million project will erect a new 75-bed hospital as part of a statewide $2.26 billion package using taxpayer dollars to bolster medical facilities this year. New hospitals are also underway in Lubbock and the Permian Basin.
As suggested by Mellisa Talley, executive director for Texas Panhandle Centers of Behavioral and Developmental Health, this targeted spending by Texas lawmakers to remedy what has long been a “desert” for mental health services is the result of lawmakers listening to their constituents.
“I think there have been so many people impacted by [mental health problems] that reached out to their representatives,” Talley said, according to The Texas Tribune. “Maybe not a lot of people spoke out in the past, but I think we all talk about it more now.”
A 2022 report from the state Behavioral Health Coordinating Council highlights an alarming increase in suicides in rural Texas, surpassing the rates in metropolitan areas. In the Panhandle, the suicide rate has escalated drastically by over 81% in 21 counties, signaling an urgent need for effective mental health interventions.
Nationwide, suicide has been a growing public health problem. As previously covered by The Dallas Express, federal data from 2022 shows that approximately 49,500 people committed suicide in the United States, marking an all-time high since 1941. This figure includes 4,193 Texas residents. The nonprofit Mental Health America ranks the state last in terms of access to mental healthcare services.
As it currently stands, any of the roughly 436,000 people living in the Panhandle would be hard-pressed to find a hospital bed during a mental health crisis. Instead, they would have to seek treatment elsewhere, such as in Wichita Falls or Big Spring.
“I can’t imagine how terrifying it is to be in a psychotic break and then to be somewhere far away from your family,” said Dr. Amanda Mathias, who acts as the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute’s regional director for the Panhandle, according to The Texas Tribune. “Any sort of health issue you’re going through, whether it’s physical or mental, you want to be as close to your support system as possible.”
Tanner County Judge Nancy Tanner hopes the new Amarillo hospital will get people talking about mental health issues more openly while providing relief to those needing it.
“All the other counties look to us because they don’t have big hospitals or treatment centers,” Tanner said, per The Texas Tribune. “They all come to us, so our role is important.”
Alongside the new hospital project, local initiatives have popped up to curb the region’s mental health crisis. For instance, the nonprofit Amarillo Area Foundation funneled $725,000 into integrating new mental health protocols in clinics.
“Doctors should be asking the questions that provide early intervention so we don’t get to the point of a crisis where somebody is thinking of suicide,” Mathias said.
While the new 200-bed hospital in the Permian Basin is expected to open in 2025, construction of the new facilities in Amarillo and Lubbock should begin next summer.