The facility wants to add more beds for children.
14 new beds are expected to be added to Brook Lane Health Services near Smithsburg. In comments to the Hagerstown Herald-Mail, Brook Lane CEO Lynn Rushing said the new beds will make up a section for children. The facility currently has 43 beds: 20 for adults, 17 for adolescents 11 and older, and six for children.
The total cost of the upgrade is $2.5-million. The Maryland General Assembly put in $1.1-million in the state's fiscal year 2013 capital budget toward the project.
Rushing says Brook Lane will start a fund raising campaign to come up with the rest of the money, and it may have borrow some cash too.
He tells the Herald-Mail that design work will probably start next month, with permits being sought in the summer.
Brook Lane is the state's only psychiatric facility for children and adolescents west of Baltimore.