King donation to help build mental care facility

WESTBROOK – The foundation established by Maine writers Stephen and Tabitha King has made a donation of $100,000 to help build a new psychiatric hospital in Westbrook.

Dennis P. King accepted the donation on behalf of Spring Harbor Hospital, the region’s only short-term treatment center for individuals of all ages who experience acute mental illness and co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse.

The hospital’s new facility in Westbrook will house Maine’s only short-term unit for the care of young people with co-occurring mental illness and developmental disability.

King noted that approximately 40 Maine children with mental illness and developmental disorders are cared for now in hospitals in states as far away as Florida. After enabling these first 40 children to come home to Maine, Spring Harbor’s new program expects to serve 50 Maine families in each subsequent year.

In addition to the new developmental disabilities unit, Spring Harbor’s new treatment center will house 40 beds for youth and 48 beds for adult patients in psychiatric crisis. The hospital, now under construction, expects to open its doors March 10, 2004.