The emergency department at a Trumbull County hospital is shut down for the foreseeable future as of 3 p.m. Thursday.

A source from Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull shared with 21 News a memo shared to all hospital staff alerting that operations will pause at the hospital's emergency department as of 3 p.m. Thursday.

According to the memo, all current emergency department patients will be transferred to another hospital and all future appointments have been canceled in the interest of patient safety.

"While the plan remains to redesign the hospital's operations fully independent of Steward, we apologize for the confusion this transition has caused the community and for the undue burden it has placed on patients and employees," the memo reads.

This is the latest development in the recent shutdowns to various services at Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.

Earlier this week, almost all departments at both hospitals shut down due to developments involving Steward Health's bankruptcy and the resignation of Insight's president Greg Goncz just two weeks on the job.

This resulted in layoffs of several hospital employees, which are expected to last at least six months. It is unknown how long the emergency department will remain closed.

Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside staff told 21 News on Thursday there were still six patients under their care. 

"This decision is leading to an enormous job loss for personnel and enormous income tax loss for the City of Warren," said Councilman Mike O'Brien. "It's an enormous amount of pressure on Mercy Health. At this point, it might be back to the drawing board for a new owner."

An employee with Hillside who wished to remain anonymous expressed frustration with the situation saying this all happened with very little warning to staff, patients, and their families.

"It is very unfair to the patients and us as employees," the employee said.

Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board Executive Director April Caraway is sounding the alarm over the lack of local beds for behavioral health/psych patients.

"We're very concerned that we don't know where they'll find beds," Caraway told 21 News' Lindsay McCoy. "This will really impact our system of care by losing 35 inpatient behavioral health beds. We don't know where patients will go and there's a long wait list at the state hospitals. Other local hospitals are full."

An Insight Trumbull Unit Tech told 21 News she gets paid every Thursday but her paycheck has yet to come in. She said frustration only continues to grow. Staff doesn't feel they're getting the answers they need and they're concerned of how long this waiting game will last.

"I'm in limbo and need answers," said an anonymous Insight Trumull employee. "We are concerned about our paychecks not coming in. So does that mean our health insurance is gone? I take insulin and blood pressure pills and I can't jump on another insurance. I know I need another job at this point."

Negotiations are continuing between unions and Insight, with a formal furlough list yet to be released.

"If they truly hope on coming back, if they hope on turning this thing around, then they better figure out some way to work with us," said Tom Connelly, Nurses Union President. "Because we're not coming back."

You can read much more about the events leading up to this shutdown in our related coverage below.

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