Tower Health issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) last week for 293 employees ahead of the closure of Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, writes Beth Brelje for The Epoch Times.

WARN is required to be issued by an employer through the Department of Labor 60 days prior to mass layoffs, which is defined as 50 or more workers. The advanced notice is intended to give affected employees adequate time to search for a new job.

“Early in the pandemic, the government mandated the shutdown of all nonessential health care services,” said Richard Wells, Tower Health communications and government relations director. “It had a huge negative impact on our financial performance.”

The closure of the 63-bed hospital was first announced in September. Tower Health will eliminate the positions at Jennersville Hospital, Jennersville Family Medicine, West Grove of PA Associates, and West Grove Clinic by the end of the year.

The hospital was already having financial issues before the pandemic. But the entire health system suffered after the outbreak happened, said Wells.

In June last year, Tower Health closed the maternity ward at Pottstown Hospital and laid off 1,000 employees.

Read more about Jennersville Hospital in The Epoch Times.