KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Governor Bill Lee asked lawmakers to approve more than $4 million in state funding for a new behavioral health urgent care center in North Knoxville on Tuesday.
The line item included in his budget proposal would support the proposed walk-in clinic co-owned by the city and county and operated by the McNabb Center.
"It’s somewhere where folks who are having whatever sort of issue can go to and get help right away," County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said.
The proposal would bring healthcare back to the campus of St. Mary's hospital in the shadow of the under-construction public safety complex. It would also fill a need for behavioral health care in the county, Jacobs said.
"People end up going to the emergency room if they’re having mental health issues and the hospitals do their best but that’s not what they’re equipped to do and it ends up being very expensive," Jacobs said. "So the idea with this is that it will be less expensive and folks will also get the care they need."
He said the city and county bought the property a few months ago. Initial proposals called for it to be paid for with federal COVID-19 relief funds.
If lawmakers approved the state funding, Jacobs said renovations could be completed in 18 months and then it could be open for services.
"It would be a huge improvement to have such a facility," said Ben Harrington, the CEO of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee. "We've kind of called it in the community a 'psychiatric ER.'"
The facility wouldn't be an inpatient center but could refer people to other services in the area.