Bethesda Hospital may return to health care in 2022 after serving as emergency homeless shelter

Daren Sukhram

[KSTP]

Fairview Health Services may return health care services to Bethesda Hospital. Since December 2020, Ramsey County has leased the facility for use as an emergency homeless shelter and COVID-19 respite facility.

This week, the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board members spoke with Ramsey County and Fairview representatives regarding the future of the site. The lease agreement for the hospital ends on May 31, 2022. County officials say they plan to continue using Bethesda as a shelter through the end of the lease.

Fairview says one option it’s considering is to return the use of Bethesda to a hospital and expand services in the areas of mental health and addiction care. It may include a new inpatient facility serving adult and geriatric mental health patients and patients with intellectual disabilities.

Ramsey County received federal funding to provide a number of temporary emergency shelters at the height of the pandemic. It has since announced it is "ramping down" some of those services as funding runs out.

Fairview officials say additional information on the Bethesda Hospital site plan is forthcoming.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this story indicated the future plans for the Bethesda Hospital site are complete. Updated information from Fairview states those plans are still pending.