The former Inn at Lenape Heights Event Center & Golf Resort sold in January for $2.5 million.
Residents of Manor Township were left wondering what the closure would do to them, with questions rolling in. The closure left them with no hotels, restaurants or venues for weddings and other parties, and people began scrambling to find new locations for weddings that were already booked.
Five months later, Lenape Wellness Center will open in that spot, and while it won’t be serving up a fancy brunch or offering a great spot for a first dance or cake cutting, it will be offering mental health treatment.
The change in focus speaks to a need.
In 2020, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimated the number of people with mental illness to be 20% of the population, based on information from 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to access mental health services. Millions of people live in mental health care deserts. The Health Resources and Services Administration has identified 10 in Allegheny County alone and two in Westmoreland. Similar deficiencies are found in Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset and Washington counties. Armstrong County has no facilities on the list.
The Lenape Center is a private, short-term treatment facility for everything from eating disorders to bipolar disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder. They provide the care people need for a few weeks or months. This type of inpatient facility has been steadily declining in recent years.
Will everyone have access to private facilities with an on-site spa and hiking trails, as was planned for the former golf and events center? Of course not.
But new mental health beds that are accessible to everyone will help alleviate the overall shortage of available mental health services.
And that access can spill over into other important areas: Mental health is a factor in violence and discipline in schools. It influences crime. It contributes to homelessness. It contributes to addiction when people self-medicate with illegal drugs. It can contribute to domestic violence.
The Lenape Center is not the solution to all of these problems. But strengthening mental health care is one aspect of addressing all of these challenges. New service providers and facilities are a win-win for everyone.
