The money was supposed to help build the Donahue Behavioral Health Hospital, a 330-bed mental health facility planned for the campus of OSU-OKC. Intended to replace Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Donahue would have increased the state’s psychiatric treatment capacity by 100 beds and offered immediate recovery services for people experiencing mental health crises.
The project was originally expected to cost nearly $150 million and be operational next year. The state legislature ponied up $87 million in pandemic relief funding, Oklahoma City contributed $1 million from Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County pitched in its $1.5 million.
But it’s not happening. A year after breaking ground on the project, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) announced it could not afford to complete the hospital…