State Hospital helps many
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
LITTLE ROCK - The new State Hospital, for people who need the most intensive mental health care, will open in Little Rock very near the site of the current 44-year-old building.
There will be space for 130 patients in the new State Hospital. The old building will continue to house about 70 people. The State Hospital provides acute mental health care for adults and forensic psychiatric services such as determining whether a person is fit to stand trial. Also, it provides treatment for adolescent sex offenders.
Before the end of the year, another 40 beds are scheduled to open at the new Psychiatric Institute of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the state's only medical school. It is in Little Rock, adjacent to the grounds of the State Hospital and the state Health Department's main building.
Arkansas also has 15 local community mental health providers that provide inpatient and outpatient treatment, as well as emergency services.
The State Hospital and the local mental health centers are overseen by the Division of Behavioral Health Services, which is one of 11 major divisions within the state Department of Human Services. The division also contracts with and oversees 24 providers of treatment for the variety of problems that are caused by substance abuse.
The Behavioral Health Services Division also operates a 350-bed facility in Saline county called the Arkansas Health Center, which was formerly known as the Benton Services Center.
The Health Center in Saline County helps the elderly and people with disabilities who require longterm psychiatric care and have other special needs.
Tourism's Economic Impact Tourism in Arkansas grew by more than 5 percent last year, when travel expenditures within the state increased from $ 5. 1 billion to $ 5. 4 billion.
The Arkansas travel industry employed 59, 797 people and paid wages that totaled about $ 1 billion. The state collected $ 280 million in taxes and local governments collected $ 102 million in taxes generated by tourism in 2007.
The state Parks and Tourism Department uses revenue from a twopercent tourism tax to promote Arkansas in the media of nearby states. Tourism officials closely monitor the effectiveness of its advertising and promotion campaigns, in order to stay on top of rapidly changing trends in communications.
For example, the department surveyed about 8, 500 of the 348, 000 people who had requested information about spring time vacations in Arkansas on the state Parks and Tourism Web site. Over 46 percent indicated that they had actually made a trip in the state, of an average stay of 3. 3 nights in Arkansas. Their average expenditure was $ 482 while in the state.
A more "old fashioned"market survey was done by staff at the 13 welcome centers at major entry points on the state's borders. They surveyed every 50 th person who dropped by, and obtained valuable marketing information about the typical traveler to Arkansas. For example, the average age of travelers was 52. 1 years.
Five states accounted for 51 percent of the travelers stopping at welcome centers. They are Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
If you have any questions or comments about legislative issues, please contact me at hendrenk @ arkleg. state. ar. us or call (479 ) 787-6500, ext. 30.
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