43 North Iowa celebrates opening of new mental illness care facility in old Globe Gazette building

MASON CITY — 43 North Iowa held a celebration on Thursday afternoon to commemorate the completion of its new Residential Care Facility for Persons with Mental Illness. The organization remodeled the former Globe Gazette building at 300 North Washington Avenue, moving operations from their current facility at 1st and North Adams.

Executive Director John Derryberry says their old facility was built in 1908 and couldn’t handle the needed capacity.  “We only had 12 beds, and we had a long wait list, so we made a decision from a board standpoint and a leadership standpoint that we needed to create more access to mental health services, get people off the streets, lessen the load for police, fire, EMS here in Mason City. So, we bought the Globe with the idea this was a big enough space to create a state-of-the-art mental health facility that gives people space, compassion, a place to go to get healthy, and if you walk the building, that’s kind of what you feel, so it’s just a beautiful space.”

Derryberry says the new building has many positives compared to their old facility.  “We have better access to downtown facilities, better access for therapists, and their living spaces. There’s visitation spaces, so if you reconnect with your family, you can now bring them here. The rooms are bigger. Sometimes in mental health, space matters, so having space to spread out to figure things out and not being in a smaller facility creates better outcomes.”

The celebration includes a parade from their current facility to the new location, along with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for guests to explore the facility.