Baxter hospital marks milestone

A Minnesota Department of Human Services hospital recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

The Community Behavioral Health Hospital in Baxter opened in January 2007 as part of a redesign of mental health services in Minnesota. The new person-centered model aims to serve individuals as close to their communities, homes and natural supports of family and friends as possible.

The Baxter hospital provides short-term, inpatient psychiatric care to adults until they can return home or transfer to less intensive services. The small, 16-bed facility in a residential neighborhood is among seven Community Behavioral Health Hospitals throughout the state that have replaced larger, institutional facilities on regional treatment center campuses.

Read a recent story about the Baxter hospital in the Brainerd Dispatch. DHS State Operated Services also operates Community Behavioral Health Hospitals in Alexandria, Annandale, Bemidji, Fergus Falls, Rochester and St. Peter.