Lakewood Seeks Comment On Western State Hospital Reconstruction

LAKEWOOD, WA — Western State Hospital is set to undergo a massive overhaul, but the City of Lakewood is asking the public to weigh in before construction begins.

Under the current Western State Hospital Master Plan, Western State Hospital and its campus would be completely reconstructed. Among other changes, the proposal would create several new buildings including:

• A new, 350-bed forensic hospital.
• An 18-bed residential cottage at the Child Study and Treatment Center.
• A new 48-bed community residential treatment facility.

In particular the new forensic hospital would require several of the campus' current buildings be demolished.

According to organizers, the aim is to transition the hospital to primarily treat forensic patients — patients who have been placed in treatment by the courts — instead of civil commitment patients, which make up the majority of the roughly 850 patients on site currently. The hospital is also in need of many general quality-of-life upgrades. As the plan says, Western State is "no longer well-suited to the provision of core services" and needs to be thoroughly modernized.

Western State was first established simply as the "Insane Asylum" back in 1871. It was renamed Western State Hospital in 1889. Many of its first facilities were built in the 1880s and 1890s, with the last two buildings added in 1982 and 2000.

"In recent years, WSH has been challenged to adapt to contemporary models of care, in part due to the out-dated facilities," the plan reads. "The State has committed to reinvesting in behavioral health care through a combination of distributed residential treatment facilities and new hospital facilities for forensic care patients.

The plan has been met with some resistance, including from Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson, who last year told the News Tribune he had concerns about how the current crop of civil patients would be relocated or discharged.

In an effort to address those concerns, organizers are inviting the community to weigh in on the proposal. Lakewood residents are invited to read through the revised master plan and SEPA checklist and submit public comment any time before July 7.

>> View previous comments or submit your own public comment on the WSH Master Plan's website.