Mercy to Unveil Senior Behavioral Health Facility Tuesday
by June 17, 2013 12:50 pm 133 views
Mercy Northwest Arkansas officials will unveil Mercy Hospital’s new senior behavioral facility at a 10 a.m. news conference Tuesday.
Construction of the project, aided by a $1 million gift from the Walmart Foundation, has been ongoing for several months on the hospital’s seventh floor.
The facility will treat patients with dementia, Alzheimer’s, depression and other mental illnesses.
The addition will address an unmet need in the area, allowing the geriatric population to receive psychiatric services in Northwest Arkansas, rather than be sent to a specialist out of town.
According to a Mercy news release, an estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. This includes an estimated 5 million people age 65 and older.
Last year, 15.4 million family and friends provided 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care to those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias — care valued at $216.4 billion, more than eight times the total sales of McDonald’s restaurants in 2011.
Unpaid caregivers provide 80 percent of care in Northwest Arkansas, according to the Mercy release.
Tuesday’s news conference will take place on the seventh floor.