Texas A&M University Board of Trustees approves land deal to bring mental health hospital to Amarillo

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Texas A&M University has announced that its Board of Trustees will approve an Amarillo land deal that will help build the only state hospital for inpatient mental health care in the Panhandle. The decision was unanimously announced.

Officials said the deal includes the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory leasing 10 acres of land formerly located at 6610 W. Amarillo Drive. before moving the lab to the West Texas A&M University campus.

“This agreement shows that when state leaders listen to the needs of their people and work together, great things can happen,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. “The city of Amarillo, the state, and the Texas A&M University System are working together to solve one of the Panhandle’s most vexing medical dilemmas today.”

TVDML is leasing the Amarillo property to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for $1 a year to build a 75-bed psychiatric hospital. “HHSC plans to break ground on the hospital late this summer and begin accepting patients in fall 2027,” officials said.

Officials also said the 88th Texas Legislature provided $159 million for hospital construction, but directed the Health and Human Services Commission to work with local stakeholders to find land for the hospital. He said he did.

Additionally, officials noted that the West Texas A&M University Foundation is raising $750,000 to purchase a bus terminal adjacent to Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center. The university is also working with the city of Amarillo to use the site to further expand WT’s Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing.

“This partnership between HHSC and the A&M System provides an opportunity for WT’s Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing to expand its impact on mental health in rural West Texas,” said West Texas A&M University. President Walter V. Wendler said he has acquired assets and cash. Worth $1.3 million.

“The real bottom line here is that Amarillo and the rest of the Panhandle will have access to the mental health care that our region needs and hasn’t been getting,” Sharp said.

Potter County Judge Nancy Turner said there is no state psychiatric hospital in the Panhandle, so people in mental health crisis are sent to Wichita Falls or further afield to a state hospital for treatment. Ta.

“By the time a bed becomes available, patients are being medicated and discharged either from the pavilion here or from other hospitals in the area,” Tanner said. “Usually they don’t work because when they are released, they go off the drug and the cycle starts all over again.”

Officials say the new hospital will allow patients facing mental health crises to get the help they need more quickly and closer to home.

“I’m thrilled that the lieutenant governor listened and was willing to get the Legislature to approve building this hospital,” Tanner said.

Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley expressed his gratitude for the partnership with the Texas A&M University System.

“This is truly proof that the Panhandle continues to come together for the greater good, for those most in need in our communities,” Stanley said. “This not only provides a new hospital location, it also provides new space next to Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center, facilitating overall workforce development programs that are much needed in the Panhandle.” It will be done.”