Children's Hospital Medical Center is looking to move its psychiatric unit to the former Emerson A. North Hospital campus in College Hill — the same site where resident opposition killed a move by the Cincinnati Job Corps program.

        Children's Hospital spokesman Jim Feuer said Wednesday the hospital has made an offer on the 27-acre site, but said he could not provide specifics.

        And like the U.S. Department of Labor's offer, which fell through last week, Children's allows it to back out if it can't get “community acceptance.”

        That may not be a problem.

        James Bodmer, the College Hill resident who spearheaded the opposition to Job Corps, said a residential mental health facility would be good use of the site.

        After all, that's what Emerson A. North did for decades before it closed seven years ago.

        “There's nothing to fear from a psychiatric hospital,” Mayor Charlie Luken told about 80 Col lege Hill residents Wednesday night while speaking at Hammond North condominiums. “It's also important to recognize that Children's Hospital is ready to reach out to the community.”

        The mayor's father, former U.S. Rep. Tom Luken, lives at Hammond North and has been circulating a petition in favor of the Children's move.

        The property is owned by MDS Pharma Services, which took over Phoenix International last year. Phoenix had used the property as a drug research facility.

        Administrators at Children's Hospital say the need for mental health services for children is critical — and growing.

        Emergency visits to the psychiatric floor at Children's Hospital Medical Center have doubled in the past two years, to 2,800 a year. There's a four- to six-week waiting list for inpatient services.

        In part, that's because other facilities to treat mentally ill and drug-addicted youth have closed.

        Millcreek Psychiatric Center — Cincinnati's state-run psychiatric hospital for children and the last of its kind in Ohio — closed in 1995. Emerson A. North closed the previous year. Jewish, Christ and University hospitals have closed or cut back inpatient psychiatric units that once admitted teens.

        “Many kids have not received any support along the way, and it's developed into a crisis by the time they get to us,” said Mike Sherbun, a senior clinical director for patient services at Children's Hospital.

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