PARKSIDE taking only emergency cases

Parkside Community Psychiatric Services says they will not accept any new patients unless it's an emergency. That's because the hospital is facing a funding crisis. <br><br>Parkside is asking

Thursday, July 26th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Parkside Community Psychiatric Services says they will not accept any new patients unless it's an emergency. That's because the hospital is facing a funding crisis.

Parkside is asking the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health for more funding to help cover it's increased cost of treatment. Parkside CEO Bill McDonald, "It doesn't take rocket science to figure out if you take care of 19% of the severely mental ill and you're only getting seven percent of the dollars to do so, we have a problem."

Officials at Parkside say based on their current state funding level, the facility loses as much as $300,000 a month due to the increase in patients and treatment.