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Bremerton’s Keller House to have more space, services

Published 4:42 pm Friday, April 9, 2010

By Christopher Carter

The exterior of the Keller House in Bremerton. The Keller House was a $4.3 million construction project and land was donated for it in 2007 by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.
The exterior of the Keller House in Bremerton. The Keller House was a $4.3 million construction project and land was donated for it in 2007 by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.

Three years in the making, mental health advocates are hailing the opening of Bremerton’s Keller House — named for former Kitsap Mental Health Executive Director Larry Keller — as a step forward in serving Kitsap’s mentally ill.

“It sure turned out nice,” Keller said. “It will meet a lot of client needs.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and appearances by state and local lawmakers Wednesday marked the opening of the house as, among other things, a replacement for the World War II-era Burwell House.

The new 16,000-square-foot facility is used primarily to temporarily house transitional patients. It will have 16 beds — 11 for short-term patients and five for those needing long-term care.

The first to take up residence at the new facility will be carry-overs from the three-story Burwell House building near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, said spokeswoman Rochelle Doan.

Doan said Burwell House wasn’t serving its patients well, was cramped and had accessibility problems.

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