Compass Health founder and chairman Mark Cullen (left), an Evergreen native, speaks to those attending a community open house for the new psychiatric hospital in Marksville. The facility is an in-patient hospital for those over 50 years of age and an out-patient program for all adults over 18 years of age. {Photo by Raymond L. Daye}
Compass Behavioral-Marksville holds open house
Everyone agrees that a modern health care facility is important to the well-being of its patients and to the community it serves.
The new Compass Behavioral Center in Marksville is a modern, well-equipped, fully staffed mental health facility. However, Compass founder and chairman Mark Cullen said is it is “the dedication to being about care and healing that makes a building special.”
Cullen is a native of Evergreen. His Compass Health is based in Crowley and now has 20 centers around the state.
The one in Marksville will probably be open by Oct. 1, he said. The state Department of Health & Hospitals will conduct a final licensure visit in the next week or two.
Compass held an open house for the center on Dr. Childress Drive this past Thursday (Sept. 12). The center provided refreshments and door prizes during the event.
“We wanted to give people a chance to see the facility,” Cullen said. “Once we open, the patient areas won’t be open to the public due to confidentiality and safety reasons.”
Compass Behavioral will have 18 in-patient beds -- four private rooms and seven double-occupancy rooms.
In addition to that wing, the facility will have an out-patient unit capable of serving 50 patients a day.
The in-patient program is for those over the age of 50. The out-patient program serves adults over the age of 18.
Compass has been providing out-patient mental health services in Bunkie since 2009.
Cullen said Compass also provides services to area nursing homes.
“We serve about 200 patients in Avoyelles Parish and 10,000 statewide,” he said. “However, if they needed more intensive care, we have had to take them out of the parish. This will allow us to provide that care closer to their home.
“The biggest barrier to people seeking the care they need is having nearby access to that care,” Cullen continued. “This facility provides that extra level of services. There is some level available already, but there is a need for more.
“This hospital will be a place of healing, a place of caring and a place of compassion,” he said. “It adds to the services available. It does not replace anything or take anything away from someone else.”
The center has filled all 34 employee positions.