The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan Tuesday to demolish the long-shuttered LAC+USC Women and Children’s Hospital and build a psychiatric “village” with a sobering center, recuperative care beds and access to a full range of mental health services.
Supervisor Hilda Solis championed the move to build what has been dubbed the Restorative Care Village and designed to serve the county’s most disenfranchised populations, including individuals living on the street or coming out of county jail or juvenile probation.
“By razing this abandoned structure and replacing it with a state-of-the art psychiatric facility that will serve as a center for innovative clinical research, L.A. County is leading the effort to improve the quality of life of all individuals,” Solis said.
Solis said she expected the project — which recognizes links between health and economic concerns — to be a model for the nation.
The Village is expected to provide a full continuum of services, including a 100-bed recuperative care center, a sobering center and a full-scope psychiatric facility, and offer access to educational opportunities and job training.
It is also meant to help bridge the needs of patients moving from acute care beds who would currently be left to fend for themselves.
Recuperative care is interim housing with on-site nursing support, case management and links to permanent supportive housing.
The board approved $2.2 million to prepare vacant land at 1774 Zonal Ave. on the LAC+USC Medical Center campus for a crisis residential treatment center and a separate recuperative care center.
The costs of demolition and new construction are preliminarily estimated to cost another $57 million. Those costs have not yet been approved.
The board separately set up capital projects to establish similar “villages” at Olive View-UCLA, Rancho Los Amigos and in the Antelope Valley.