St. Peter's Hospital on Monday announced a partnership with a Texas firm to open a 24-bed in-patient mental-health wing next May, a move local health professionals say fills a significant gap in the mental-health services available in the community.

Horizon Behavioral Health Systems will operate the unit, to be housed in the hospital's former surgical/oncology/pediatrics wing, which was vacated when the hospital's new patient wing opened earlier this year.

"This is absolutely huge," said Gary Mihelish, president of the Montana chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "If you look at the continuum of care, this is the missing piece for the Helena community. It is not the only piece, but it is probably the most important piece."

The in-patient wing fills a gap that's existed in Helena since 2002, when St. Peter's closed its nine-bed unit, citing a loss of psychiatrists.

"The hospital has been working for several years to find a way to reopen another behavioral health unit, which is a very specialized and complex service," said Rick Hays, president of the hospital's board of directors. "Many of us have recognized this need for a long time, it just hasn't been an easy thing to accomplish."

Under the agreement, St. Peter's will pay a management fee to Horizon in exchange for staffing and running the program. Horizon will hire and employ around 30 workers for the new unit, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, therapists and other staff.

In addition to a per-patient/per-day fee to be paid to Horizon, the hospital is putting up $800,000 to renovate the former patient rooms and for additional financial support.

The average stay for patients is expected to be between four and six days.

Horizon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nashville-based Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., has similar arrangements with more than 100 hospitals across the country.

"We're in the business of partnering with community hospitals," said the company's vice president John Piechocki, adding that Horizon manages around 3,000 beds in more than 30 states.

With no in-patient behavioral health unit here, patients from Helena were routinely transported to the state hospital in Warm Springs, at additional time and cost to local law enforcement.

"This is going to be a big plus for law enforcement," said Helena Police Chief Troy McGee. "It really will help the citizens of Helena, and it will keep the people local who need assistance. They won't be a long way away."

Consulting with local public officials as well as NAMI and Rocky Mountain Development Council, the hospital sought outside proposals for managing a mental health unit about a year ago.

"This is the cornerstone," said RMDC director Gene Leuwer. "Without this, we've just got disparate parts. This is the biggest, most fundamental piece of the system."

Leuwer stressed that the behavioral unit at the hospital is not the final piece to complete a thorough mental health system in Helena. RMDC, St. Peter's and Lewis and Clark County have agreed to share the cost of a consultant who will meet with local agencies to determine what the remaining needs are.

"We're just starting the work. We really have to step up and put into place an integrated system of service," Leuwer said. "There are other elements to that system that as a community we need to provide."

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com