The Richwood Area Community Hospital is closing, putting more than 100 employees out of work and forcing some patients to drive 25 miles farther for treatment.

Citing overwhelming debt, the community-owned hospital's board of directors voted Monday night to close the roughly 35-bed critical care hospital in Nicholas County. Services will be phased out between Friday and June 27.

Medical transcriptionist Lynne Williams says employees were informed of the closure Tuesday.

The four-story hospital opened in 1954 as Sacred Heart Hospital and has struggled financially for years.

Williams says the hospital has too much debt and is considering filing for bankruptcy. The nearest hospital is Summersville Memorial Hospital, 25 miles to the east.