Although New Orleans-based Children's Hospital leaders signed a lease agreement for the shuttered New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, they announced in a statement Thursday that they do not intend to reopen the facility to provide mental health services, according to a report by the Times-Picayune.
The statement countered state Rep. Neil Abramson's announcement made several hours earlier, in which he indicated Children's Hospital had agreed to reopen NOAH. Children's leaders said the announcement "puzzled" them, as they had signed the lease in January in an effort to eventually purchase the property, which is adjacent to its Uptown campus, according to the report.
The lease, signed by Children's CEO Stephen Worley and state officials, requires NOAH to be reopened to provide the same level of mental health services it offered when it closed in 2009. State legislation allows the property to be leased on the condition that mental health services are provided.
Rep. Abramson, who represents the district in which the property is located, said he was open to those mental health services being provided in facilities other than the shuttered NOAH building, but he asserted the level of mental services Children's offers somewhere must match the 2009 level to comply with the terms of the lease, according to the report.
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The statement countered state Rep. Neil Abramson's announcement made several hours earlier, in which he indicated Children's Hospital had agreed to reopen NOAH. Children's leaders said the announcement "puzzled" them, as they had signed the lease in January in an effort to eventually purchase the property, which is adjacent to its Uptown campus, according to the report.
The lease, signed by Children's CEO Stephen Worley and state officials, requires NOAH to be reopened to provide the same level of mental health services it offered when it closed in 2009. State legislation allows the property to be leased on the condition that mental health services are provided.
Rep. Abramson, who represents the district in which the property is located, said he was open to those mental health services being provided in facilities other than the shuttered NOAH building, but he asserted the level of mental services Children's offers somewhere must match the 2009 level to comply with the terms of the lease, according to the report.
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