LONGVIEW, Texas — "No comment."
This is all CBS19 heard from employees at Magnolia Behavioral Hospital of East Texas on Monday when asked about why the hospital was closed and what was going to happen to patients who depended on the center.
The psychiatric hospital offered both in and outpatient services for adults.
According to CBS19's newspaper partner, the Longview News-Journal, an employee of the hospital said the decision was made at the corporate level.
CBS19 also reached out to the parent company, Oglethorpe, for answers but received no response.
However, this is not the first time the location has closed since it originally opened.
In May 2010, the Behavioral Hospital of Longview shut down their 76-bed operation after losing Medicare reimbursements.
Seven years later, the facility reopened as Magnolia and regained its Medicare certification in 2018.
A quality check shows the hospitals last site visit was on April 11, 2018, a day before its accreditation was renewed.
There was no mention of Medicare issues on the quality check for 2019.
So, with no answers, CBS19 decided to look into other resources available to area residents who are seeking mental health treatment.
"There continues to be a lack of behavioral health treatment options in our community and it’s unfortunate anytime services are no longer available," Administrator at Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Longview, Lauren Weber, said. "Our hospital has been a proud provider of inpatient and outpatient treatment since 2011, and we look forward to continuing to provide these much-needed healthcare services to patients who meet our criteria in the Longview community in the future."
Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Longview currently has 24 beds and is accepting individuals 50 and older.
"Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Longview has 24 beds and is currently accepting individuals for our inpatient program who meet the criteria for treatment," Weber said. "We provide care to adults 50 and older managing depression, anxiety, behavioral disturbances associated with early-stage Alzheimer’s and dementia, and other behavioral issues."
Community Healthcore, the mental health authority for Gregg County, offers programs for children and adults.
"We're the local mental health authority," Director of Operations for Community Healthcore, Rick Roberts, said. "And we do a lot of screening for individuals who've come into, like emergency departments and hospitals and places like that."
They have an inpatient crisis unit with 24 beds, a crisis phone line that is available 24/7 and recommends those in need of services to facilities in other counties, as well.
"We have an inpatient crisis unit that is a 24-bed unit that we can hold individuals for 48 hours involuntarily until we can get them to a higher level of care if that's what they're needing," Roberts said.
While Community Healthcore did refer some patients to Magnolia, they say the most important thing is to take care of the patients.
"As far as hospitals, all of the hospitals in the city or in the county, you know, have emergency departments that end up dealing with mental health-related issues," Roberts said.
If you or someone you know is having a mental health emergency, you are urged to call 911.