Local emergency room shut down, some concerned it won't reopen

ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. — The emergency room and inpatient services at the Ellwood City Medical Center are temporarily shut down.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Paycheck problems at local hospital run deeper than expected

This comes months after employees at the hospital told Channel 11 they had not received paychecks on multiple occasions. The city's mayor, Anthony Court, told us then the problems were deeper than expected, with some paycheck problems going back months.

Court told Channel 11 he just found out about the shutdown on Wednesday and has been busy trying to get answers. He found out a CT scanner isn't working properly, which caused the closure.

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Court said the nearest hospitals are 30 minutes away.

"Even our police officers who have to take people who have DUI's and blood work. Now we have to transport them to different hospitals like New Castle and Butler because of the situation we are in," he said.

On Dec. 3, Channel 11 was outside the state representative's office as he was on a conference call with the health department and the owner of the medical center.

The representative wanted in on the call to represent his community and try to figure out how quickly they can get this hospital back on track.

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