Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, has closed its Asheville Specialty Hospital, a long-term acute care hospital.
The closure comes two months after Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26 in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm and made its way through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia.
Asheville-based Mission Hospital had unpressurized water following the storm and was forced to use more than 20 tanker trucks of water daily to run clinical operations. Surgeries were also delayed due to road closures that prevented employees from arriving for their shifts and caused a lack of clean supplies. Asheville Specialty Hospital also suspended services during the storm, the Asheville Watchdog reported Nov. 25.
"We have made the difficult decision to not reopen Asheville Specialty Hospital…," Nancy Lindell, a spokesperson for Mission Health, said in a Nov. 26 statement shared with Becker's. "We have had to focus on prioritizing our resources during and after Hurricane Helene to care for the most urgent medical needs of our community."
The hospital's employees have been caring for patients at Mission Hospital since the storm. Permanent roles have been offered to every employee affected by the hospital's closure.
Mission began reopening Asheville-based CarePartners Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital on Nov. 21 with the return of municipal water. Employees have started returning to their roles and patients are being admitted. The system hopes to reopen CarePartners Solace in Asheville soon, the statement said.