Texas Legislature Approves Funding For Permian Basin Mental Health Hospital

Texas Legislature just approved funds to build a state-of-the-art mental health hospital between Midland and Odessa.

According to NewsWest 9, the funding of $40 million will be the cost of the project which will be a partnership of Midland and Ector County Hospital Districts.

Our representatives Brooks Landgraf and Tom Craddick were both a part of the coalition to get the funds for the project.

"Our communities in West Texas have a dire need for quality mental healthcare," said Craddick. "The mental health hospital is a great stride towards meeting the mental health needs of West Texas. I am honored to have worked on securing this funding and look forward to this facility being a resource for generations to come."

The hospital will be constructed between Midland and Odessa and will include inpatient services, counseling offices, community education, a crisis stabilization unit, therapeutic areas, and residency services also.

The hospital will be up and running by 2024.

Big Spring State Hospital was set up to be the place for people to go in West Texas and the South Plains with mental illnesses.

The hospital is still in operation but the new mental health hospital, once it is constructed between Midland and Odessa, would serve as the place for people to go with mental health issues.

The new hospital will be a larger facility than the facility in Big Spring, which was built in 1937 when the population of the area was a lot smaller than it is now.

Now with a population of around a quarter-million combined in the cities of Midland and Odessa, a new facility is needed.