Strawberry Hill: KU Med’s Adult Mental and Behavioral Health Facility

Strawberry Hill, the newest addition to the University of Kansas Medical Center, began offering mental and behavioral health inpatient services to patients Sept. 4.

All patients at Strawberry Hill will be treated for a short term of four to six days for immediate help in crisis situations — any situation where someone could cause harm to themselves or other people very soon — according to Jill Chadwick, Director of Media Relations at KU Med. As an inpatient hospital, they’re allowed to treat patients with medications, then release them with outpatient services to follow up.

KU decided there was an immense need for the services offered at Strawberry Hill because of the large numbers of people with mental illnesses. In the greater Kansas City area alone, one in every 10 adults have a severe mental illness, and of those, 40% of the cases are untreated, according to Health Forward.

“It’s for patients who are in crisis,” Chadwick said. “So it’s not like a state hospital where once you’re there you’re in forever, it’s for what is known as immediate help or attention for somebody who might feel for example like they’re a harm to themselves or harm to others.” 

KU decided as a health system there were patients that would benefit from the facility and with advocates they were able to fund Strawberry Hill. The center, located in the downtown KC area, provides easy access for all patients in need of treatment by being in a central location.

Senior Paige Ceule is aware of the services taking place at Strawberry Hill and believes it will be beneficial because people will be made more aware of how many are affected by mental illnesses. 

“I think it’ll make people more aware of what’s going on in people’s lives and that stuff, like that doesn’t happen just to teens and it’s not really something you can easily grow out of,” Ceule said.

The building that’s been vacant for five years is a total of 220,000 square feet and has been  renovated to include 47 private rooms. At the facility there is an indoor recreation area for exercise or movie nights, outdoor space for activities, in-room dining and quiet rooms for reading and relaxing. These rooms were created to make the stay more enjoyable for patients while they go through treatment.

KU Health Systems made the decision to purchase the building in downtown Kansas City to create Strawberry Hill in March of 2018, projecting the cost to be $61 million, while the final cost was not revealed.

The 47 rooms they offer host individuals and help them through therapy to heal and recover from their current crisis.

“It’s a huge need in the community and actually across the nation,” Chadwick said. “There’s just not enough beds for people with mental needs and so our goal is to always provide the best care possible for the state of Kansas and of course the community. We think it will provide much, much needed services.”

KU Med has a facility similar to Strawberry Hill called Marillac, which is for children under the age of 18 suffering from mental illness. Chadwick thinks it’s important that there is the same facility for adults because Marillac only treats minors.

East Psychology teacher, Brett Kramer, believes since we are near KU Med and Wyandotte County, people in our community should and will use the services offered there.

“It’s important we have facilities like Strawberry Hill because there is every bit a need for mental health care as there is for physical health care,” Kramer said. “The difference is you can’t see someone’s struggles emotionally and cognitively because it’s in their mind — it’s where it exists, and you can’t see that. Just because we can’t see mental health struggles does not mean there is not the need for more care and there is.”

Strawberry Hill hopes that people with mental health issues become aware of their facility and when they’re in emergency crisis situations they come and use their services to better themselves and improve the mental health of our community as a whole.