A small-town hospital that many residents considered a lifeline has closed without warning, leaving workers unpaid and patients with nowhere nearby to go.
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This week, a sign was posted on the front doors of the hospital at 300 E. Crockett Street in Cleveland. It stated the facility, now under the name Texas Rural Hospital, was closed. Some workers say they only found out hours before the sign went up.
“My coworker called me while I was with my mom on my day off,” said Janine Wolfe, who worked at the hospital for nine years. “They said the doors would be closing by 6:30 p.m. that same day.”
Wolfe said it wasn’t hospital leadership who made the decision, it was a nurse manager who stepped in when no one else would.
“Administration never came back. He was the one who made the call.”
Ownership confusion and an abrupt end
For years, the facility had operated as part of Emergency Hospital Systems. However, that lease agreement was severed in March 2025, and the hospital’s owner entered into a new operating agreement with HealCrest Network LLC, based in West Covina, California.
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In a statement, Emergency Hospital Systems clarified it is no longer affiliated with the Cleveland facility and is unaware of any actions taken by the current ownership regarding recent operational decisions.
HealCrest Network LLC has not responded to KPRC 2’s repeated requests for comment.
Layoffs, Missed Paychecks, and Silence
Employees say they received layoff notices as far back as February. Letters cited reduced Medicaid reimbursement rates and rising costs as factors behind the decision to shut down operations. The closure date was originally expected to be April 29.
But some workers were still showing up—until the doors abruptly closed Monday evening.
“We were told our checks would be delayed but not missed,” Wolfe said. “Now, we’re told we’re not getting paid at all because the sale didn’t finalize. It’s devastating.”
She says some of her coworkers are single parents, others are elderly, and many depend on their paychecks just to make rent or trailer payments. One friend of hers, she said, is 68 and filing for unemployment for the first time.
“This was more than a hospital. This was a family. A home. We took care of our own.”
A Community in Crisis
The ripple effect is already being felt by patients. On Tuesday morning, KPRC 2 saw a mother with two children approach the hospital, unaware that it had closed. Signs now direct all patients to HCA Kingwood about 23 miles, or roughly 30 minutes away, for care. Another option, HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, is approximately 30 miles from Cleveland, with an estimated 35-minute drive.
While Cleveland does have HCA Houston ER 24/7 located at 1103 E. Houston St., it is not a full-service hospital. The facility functions more like an advanced urgent care center; it provides 24/7 emergency services, on-site imaging, and lab testing, but does not offer inpatient beds or long-term treatment.
Patients who require hospitalization are transferred to larger hospitals like those in Kingwood or Conroe.
“We had so many elderly patients who couldn’t drive far,” Wolfe said. “Some people can’t make that trip. This was the only place they could turn to.”
‘We’re still waiting’
KPRC 2 has reached out to Texas Rural Hospitals LLC and HealCrest Network LLC.
A representative from the former operator, Emergency Hospital Systems, stated:
“Emergency Hospital Systems has no affiliation with the ownership of HealCrest Network LLC. We are unaware of the actions taken by the company in regards to any operational decisions that have occurred at Texas Rural Hospital.”
Wolfe says staff have sent multiple emails and made calls to executives, including CEO Michael Torres, with no response.
What’s next?
KPRC 2 spoke with the Texas Rural Hospitals LLC owner, who said the shutdown is only temporary. He assured us that employees should be receiving their wages by next week and that the hospital is expected to reopen around the same time.
This isn’t the first time the hospital has closed. Wolfe says it previously shut down and took three years to reopen.
“When it reopened, I came back immediately. Because this is home.”
