JOHNSTOWN, Colo. — A northern Colorado mental health facility that has been at the forefront of multiple critical Denver7 Investigates reports for the past six years will officially close at the end of March.
Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health, a 92-bed facility in Larimer County, recently announced that it will close on March 31 and lay off its 150-plus employees.
“After careful thought, we have decided to cease operations at Johnstown Heights. This decision was made with deep consideration for the community, and we remain grateful for the opportunity to have served patients and families in the region,” Johnstown Heights CEO Sabrina Gibson said in a statement.
Denver7 Investigates first reported on the previous mental health hospital at this location, Clear View Behavioral Health, in January 2019 after complaints of poor patient care and awful conditions. That kicked off years of serious allegations.
- You can explore the below timeline to see all of Denver7's in-depth coverage of this ongoing story.
After several reports over the course of roughly 20 months, the state of Colorado stepped in and closed the hospital. Less than a year later, in July 2021, the facility was back up and running under the Johnstown Heights name.
In October 2022, Denver7 Investigates again reported on the location as patients and staff came forward to say that the conditions had not improved from Clear View and that patients were again kept longer than necessary in order to make money.
- Watch Denver7 Investigates' report below after we learned that many of the problems that led the state to shut down Clear View in 2020 continued at Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health.
“I'm saying they are all about the profit,” one patient told Denver7 Investigates. “They are all about doing anything to make a person stay so they can charge them more.”
A veteran nurse, who spent six weeks at Johnstown Heights, said the conditions were unacceptable and said he had witnessed physical and sexual assaults at the hospital, along with filthy conditions.
“I have never, ever, ever seen a place like this,” BJ Potts told us. “I mean prisons are offering better care than Johnstown Heights. Everything about this place is wrong.”
Denver7 Investigates’ reporting also shed light on the death of 39-year-old Christopher Dickson on Nov. 11, 2022, two days after he was admitted to the detox unit. After the death, the county coroner in the area said he believed Dickson should still be alive.
The state also placed Johnstown Heights in “immediate jeopardy” on at least two occasions, the most severe designation for a mental health facility.
Hospital leadership regularly declined to answer questions and avoided accountability for these issues.
Amid the closure announcement, an inside source said that all patients have already been removed from the hospital, and staff that are still there are working on cleaning up the facility.
Both the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment and the Attorney General’s office said they did not order the hospital closed.
Gibson, the hospital’s CEO, said the decision stemmed from a “comprehensive review of business and operational dynamics in the Colorado market.”
You can read Gibson's full statement below:
“Since opening in July 2021, Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health (Johnstown Heights) has provided compassionate, evidence-based inpatient and outpatient treatment to 3,000 patients in Colorado and surrounding states facing complex and challenging mental health conditions.
After careful thought, we have decided to cease operations at Johnstown Heights. This decision was made with deep consideration for the community, and we remain grateful for the opportunity to have served patients and families in the region.
Our focus during this transition will continue to be on our patients and their loved ones, collaborating with our peer providers and community partners to facilitate a safe, compassionate, and orderly transition to alternative inpatient and outpatient care resources. We will also provide career support to our valued team members.
Johnstown Heights remains fully licensed in good standing by the State of Colorado and accredited by The Joint Commission.
We want to express our sincere appreciation to our staff and to the entire Johnstown and greater Northern Colorado community for its tremendous trust and support over the years.
The decision to wind down resulted from a comprehensive review of business and operational dynamics in the Colorado market including shifting referral and reimbursement trends, patient census and acuity, bed expansions and new facilities in closer proximity to major population centers.”
