JOHNSTOWN, Colo. — Nyssa Passwater doesn’t scare easily, but said she was terrified during her daughter’s nine-day stay at Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health.
“I mean, they just held her as long as possible,” she told Denver7 Investigates. “It was a bad experience."
Former Johnstown Heights employee Eric Olsen said it’s no surprise to him that the 92-bed mental health facility in northern Colorado would keep a patient at the hospital longer than needed.
“Every patient has a dollar sign attached to them. There's a fiscal value for that patient,” Olsen explained. “It's just negligent. People are coming in there for help and, you know, they're just using them to make money.”
Behavioral Health Technician Samantha Russell noted that this sort of thing happened frequently during her time workingat Johnstown Heights.
“Once you're on hold, there's no leaving,” Russell said.
Since opening in 2021, the mental health facility has piled up violations from the state of Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment for the conditions at the hospital and it was placed in Immediate Jeopardy status — the most severe designation at the state’s disposal — multiple times, including once after a patient’s death in late 2022.
RELATED: State places Colorado mental health facility on second serious designation in 6 months
And now, the facility is officially closed with the company’s CEO describing it essentially as a business decision. However, to some it remains unclear as to why or how that decision was reached.
Denver7 Investigates produced more than a half dozen reports and a news special since October 2022, uncovering troubling stories regarding the care for some of the state’s most vulnerable people.
It also produced more than 20 stories regarding the previous hospital — Clear View Behavioral Health — at the site until the state stepped in and shut it down in September 2020.
In connection with Johnstown Heights, Olsen, the former employee said, “when I saw nursing staff forging documentation to keep patients there, that's when I was like, 'It's time to go.'"
“I hope this place never opens again,” Russell, the other former employee, added.
During previous reports, Denver7 Investigates highlighted the November 2022 death of Christopher Dickson inside the facility’s detox unit. In an exclusive interview, Larimer County Coroner Stephen Hanks said he believed Dickson should still be alive.
Subsequent reports uncovered details about state inspectors tipping off Johnstown Heights before so-called “surprise” inspections with one former employee saying they had a few days’ advance notice.
Despite this, the state still found 28 violations of the course of its inspections.
Denver7 Investigates spoke to former nurse B.J. Potts, who spent six weeks working at Johnstown Heights before resigning due to personal safety concerns.
Hear from B.J. Potts in our report below, where he said he has spent more than 40 years as a nurse, but says his six-week stint at Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health earlier this year was unlike any other in his career.
“As a medical professional my job was to help people," she said. "These people weren't being helped. They weren't being treated. I never saw a doctor. In so many ways, the place is a s***hole.”
Johnstown Heights CEO Sabrina Gibson, in a statement sent in February when the hospital announced its closure, said the facility would remain “fully licensed” and “accredited," but never stated specifically why the hospital voluntarily shut its doors.
“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,” part of the statement read.
Attorney Jerome "J" Reinan is representing multiple former Johnstown Heights patients in ongoing lawsuits against the facility’s owners.
He speculated that the hospital’s referral sources dried up based on previous news stories shedding light on what happened in the hospital.
“Ultimately, I suppose it's a business decision, but from what we know about the facility it's been having so many problems with care issues, staffing issues, regulatory issues and violating mental health statutes,” Reinan said.
Denver7 Investigates reached out to CEO Gibson to ask for clarification on the closure. She declined an on-camera interview, but in a statement said the closure came following "a comprehensive review of business dynamics including shifts in referral and reimbursement trends and increased competition."
In a recent interview, Potts, the former nurse, said he did not regret his harsh words toward the facility.
“It was to me what I would imagine a prison to be like,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked in a place like that, that I could compare to that.”
