Petersburg hospital gets preliminary nod for behavioral health grant

Petersburg Medical Center has preliminary approval for roughly $400,000 in federal money for behavioral health services and cannot touch it. No one can be hired and nothing can be bought until the state approves a budget and signs a grant agreement, and the amount can still change.

The need has been building. Behavioral health accounted for six of the hospital's 30 inpatient admissions in the second quarter of 2026 and 25 patient days, up from four admissions and 10 days in the first quarter. Halfway through the year, that is 10 admissions and 35 patient days against 12 admissions and 41 days for all of 2025. Most involved suicidal ideation. Two patients were transferred to another facility for care Petersburg could not provide.

The proposal would establish and staff a behavioral health department with room to take interns, at $443,000 requested. Some of the staffing is already there. A psychiatrist sees patients on site and by telehealth, and a behavioral health director recently moved back to Petersburg after several years working remotely. Residents otherwise rely on hospital-based care, telepsychiatry and Petersburg Mental Health Services, which has operated in town since 1993.

CEO Philip Hofstetter told the hospital board the approval came through the previous Friday without a budget attached, and that the figure holds only if the state funds what the hospital asked for. Two other Rural Health Transformation Program projects also cleared, one for telehealth and one for maternal and child health, which Hofstetter estimated could exceed $1 million combined. None of it appears in the hospital's financials.

The clock is the problem. Grants Planning and Evaluation Director Katie Bryson said that by the time the state approves a budget, about 10 months will be left in the fiscal year to spend the award. Bryson leaves the hospital in September. PMC's two largest proposals, for facility and equipment work, were deferred without explanation.

Anyone in crisis can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by call or text.