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Psychiatric Treatment Facility for Children with Autism Coming to Marshall County

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Developers of a new Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility in Marshall County are hoping to make it easier for families with autistic children to find treatment in the Jackson Purchase Area.  

Drs. Maqbool Ahmed and WasimSajid are partnering to develop the 24-bed Purchase Youth Villages facility near Benton specializing in treating children ages 4 to 21 with severe autism.  

Ahmed says there’s a need for the facility because oftentimes patients with disorders needing long-term treatment can’t be admitted to acute care hospitals.

“Currently patients have to go out of state to be treated and that is very hard on the families," said Ahmed. "So the legislature in the state of Kentucky decided about two years ago there’s a need in our state for 145 beds and then they distributed these beds across the state. So basically there’s no other facility like this in western Kentucky.”  

Ahmed says there's been some concern from Marshall County residents throughout the development process about having a psychiatric facility in their community.  He says that too often there is a misinformed stigma against people with disorders but residents shouldn't be worried because the Purchase Youth Village will have state-of-the-art security. 

“And secondly, these are children, young adolescent kids, they really need our help," said Ahmed. "Typically with autism, these children, they avoid interaction with everybody around them and they’re very confined to their own world. The only problem is they can do self-harm, and this is what we monitor and treat them for and do their therapy so they can get out of a crisis mode and go back with their family.” 

Ahmed says the facility will bring 40 to 50 jobs to the area, not including jobs for crews constructing the facility. Purchase Youth Village will be privately-owned and operated but will be licensed by the state. Sajid will serve as medical director at the facility. 

Ahmed says construction will be contracted locally but he doesn't have an estimate yet on how much the facility will cost. He says if construction can get started within the next few months, the facility will be able to start admitting patients early next year. 

Rob Canning is a native of Murray, KY, a 2015 TV Production grad of Murray State. At MSU, he served as team captain of the Murray State Rowing Club. Rob's goal is to become a screenwriter, film director or producer and looks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for inspiration. He appreciates good music, mainly favoring British rock n' roll, and approves of anything with Jack White's name on it. When not studying, rowing or writing, Rob enjoys spending his free time with a book or guitar.
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