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New Psychiatric Hospital Approved

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
CentralFloridaBehavioral.com
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration on Tuesday approved a 48-bed expansion for an Central Florida hospital.

Central Florida Behavioral Hospital’s $11.8 million expansion will be used for adult psychiatric patients, and brings the hospital’s total bed count to 174.

The expansion of the facility located in Orlando near Sea World, would add 37,000 square feet of new construction. Company officials expect the beds to open in January 2017 and will create 70 jobs.

It comes at a time when the lack of funding for mental health services in Florida is being questioned.

Company officials expect the beds to open in January of 2017 and create 70 jobs.

Abe Aboraya is a reporter with WMFEin Orlando. WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Health News Florida reporter Abe Aboraya works for WMFE in Orlando. He started writing for newspapers in high school. After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2007, he spent a year traveling and working as a freelance reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, and working for local news websites in the San Francisco Bay area. Most recently Abe worked as a reporter for the Orlando Business Journal. He comes from a family of health care workers.