Counseling Center Work on Schedule

New home for Firelands’ Mental Health Services will be ready by spring

By ANNIE ZELM zelm@sanduskyregister.com

 

SANDUSKY

Soon, the staff for the Firelands Regional Medical Center’s counseling services will have a new home.

The new Firelands Counseling & Recovery Services center is slated to be completed by spring, and construction workers are well on their way to meeting that goal.

Construction director John Zarvis said the roof membrane is being installed so the site at Hayes Avenue and Pierce Street will remain dry through the winter.

“As of now, we are ahead of schedule,” Zarvis said. “The early arrival of winter will make it necessary to build temporary shelters around the perimeter of the building to allow the completion of the masonry during freezing temperatures”

Zarvis said the east and west walls arenearlycomplete,andworkershave begun the north and south walls.

Once the walls are complete, the window openings will be temporarily screened so workers can heat the interior and pour concrete floors through the winter. After the site of the old facility at 2020 Hayes Ave. is cleared, work is to begin on the new YMCA through a partnership with the hospital.

The $4.1 million project, led by Janotta & Herner and architects Poulos & Associates, will allow the staff to better accommodate the estimated 200 patients who receive counseling and recovery services each day, director Marsha Mruk said.

“This is coming about because of thecommitmentofFirelandsRegional Medical Center to mental health services,” Mruk said.

Firelands Counseling & Recovery Services has 10 facilities serving a seven-county area. They provide a behavioral health services, including counseling, alcohol and drug abuse treatment and crisis intervention.

Though the center primarily treats outpatients, there is a 34-bed psychiatric facility at the hospital.

Mruk said the need for behavioral health services has grown tremendously in recent years as the stigma attched to it has diminished.

“Everybody knows somebody who has gotten help ... dealing with the complexities of life,” she said. “It’s no longer a shame.”

An artist’s rendering hung on the fence shows what Firelands Regional Medical Center’s new behavioral health center will look like upon its completion next spring. Register photo/LUKE WARK

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