Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – When Ascension St. Vincent Dunn Hospital closed its doors in 2022, questions about the building’s future lingered for months.
On Wednesday, The Indiana Center for Recovery, a mental health and substance use disorder treatment facility, held a ribbon cutting for its newest facility in the former Bedford hospital.
The facility will begin accepting patients Thursday, said Cheyenne Riker, general counsel for Indiana Center for Recovery.
The renovated third floor has 39 patient beds. Work continues on the second floor, which will add 37 beds. The fourth floor will accommodate 26 patients seeking mental health treatment.
The building, which covers 184,000 square feet, can accommodate significant growth.
Riker said the facility’s growth will be determined by patient demand and meeting staffing levels to serve more patients. Currently, the Bedford facility has about 60 staff, ranging from registered nurses, case managers, therapists, behavior technicians and those in dietary services.
The goals for the Bedford facility are to be an asset to the community and provider of compassionate, quality care.
The Indiana Center for Recovery opened its first center in Bloomington.
“We started in 2017 as a small outpatient facility on West First Street in Bloomington,” Riker said. “The demand for these services, unfortunately, is substantial. We’ve been ravaged by methamphetamine, opiates and a whole range of issues that have given rise to substance use disorder.”
Since opening in Bloomington, Indiana Center for Recovery has expanded to several other cities including a 150-bed facility in Mishawaka and an inpatient facility in Indianapolis. The Bloomington center now has 130 beds.
“There’s a substantial need for this service,” Riker said. “We offer everything from outpatient services to the highest level of care at our hospital in Mishawaka. Ultimately, we will do the same thing here. Our hope is to offer a whole continuum of care.”
The event included facility tours. Riker said the color scheme, art work and patient room furnishings were chosen to create a home-like, stress-free environment so that patients can focus on getting better.
Work remodeling the patient floors began soon after Indiana Center for Recovery closed on the building in November 2023.
Several city and county leaders were in attendance at the ribbon cutting.
“This is another great day for our community,” said Bedford Mayor Sam Craig.
Janie Craig Chenault, who was a member of the St. Vincent Dunn Hospital Board of Directors for 20 years, met with Riker and toured the building prior to the ribbon-cutting.
“It’s unbelievable what an infusion of love, money and paint will do to a building. It does break our heart that Dunn isn’t here anymore, but this is a wonderful thing and sorely needed by our community,” Chenault said.
The Indiana Center for Recovery is fully licensed and accredited by the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction and the Joint Commission.
Haven Health Management, parent company of the Indiana Center for Recovery, has treatment centers in eight states.