What looks like just a construction zone on the 5th floor of WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital will be a Behavioral Health Ward in the next year.

The 5th floor formerly housed the “skilled nursing unit,” but now construction is beginning for the ward. It’s a process that started with a design and will continue with demolition.

There’s much that needs to be done to make sure it’s a safe space for patients from the ceilings to the doorknobs.

The hospital has already hired on three psychiatrists who will start in 2020. They look to begin with a staff of 20 to 30.

There will be 24 beds, and three different sections. Reynolds hopes to have the ward open at some point in the early summer of 2020.