First Hospital Ending Inpatient and Outpatient Services

8/1/2022

First Hospital is notifying patients and family members, physicians, staff members, partners, and state and federal agencies of its plans to close the hospital and our affiliated outpatient treatment offerings on October 30, 2022. This is a difficult decision given our longstanding commitment to provide behavioral health services in our community.

Over the past couple of years, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain adequate staffing levels at the hospital. Many providers, nurses and other caregivers have left their professions or our organization during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a trend seen at other hospitals across the country. It has become very challenging to recruit new team members, backfill with contract labor, and retain our staff.

After an incident at the hospital in June, the organization that historically has been First Hospital’s largest source of patient admissions, accounting for approximately 70% of hospitalized patients, put a hold on new admissions. As admissions declined, more staff members chose to leave.

Today, First Hospital has enough staff to safely care for our current hospitalized patients, but not enough to accept new admissions. As a result, we have stopped accepting new admissions. We are committed to providing ongoing care for current patients and to an orderly transition that provides for the safe discharge or placement for all patients before October 30.

First Hospital has actively explored and remains open to transitioning our facility and services to a new operator of behavioral healthcare, should one be identified before the facility is closed.

First Hospital is extremely grateful for our staff who care about their patients and who have chosen to work within our organization. We will be working with these valued team members to identify openings and other opportunities across Commonwealth Health and we will be encouraging our team members to consider any opportunities for which they qualify.

Additional updates will be provided if there are new developments.

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