Mind Springs Health will close its Glenwood Springs withdrawal management facility on March 10, just eight months after it opened.

The decision follows financial struggles and upcoming state and federal regulatory changes. The $1.8 million facility was funded through a collaboration of local governments, hospitals, and grants, including $200,000 from the city of Glenwood Springs.In May 2024, Garfield County commissioners approved a $49,500 grant to Mind Springs Health for operational costs. The county also supplied $100,000 through its share of Colorado Opioid Settlement funds.

Glenwood Springs Mayor Ingrid Wussow said the closure is frustrating after so much effort went into the project.

“It was vetted by so many different organizations,” Wussow said. “The community was behind this and it’s just so unfortunate that the execution did not play out to be such a success.”

Garfield County Commissioner Mike Samson said officials spent years working to bring a detox facility to the area, only to see it disappear less than a year after opening its doors.

“We had meeting after meeting, worked to bring communities together, and made it happen,” Samson said. “And now the wheels fall off the bus.”

With the closure, those experiencing withdrawal will need to rely on hospitals or other regional services.

“We return to what we were doing prior to this facility opening,” Wussow said. “We’re fortunate Valley View and Grand River are capable, but they were already holding us up before this facility even existed.”

The closure comes a little more than three months after Mind Springs entered into a management agreement with Florida-based Larkin Health System. Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said new laws requiring higher standards for withdrawal management centers contributed to the closure.

“That was a shock to us,” Jankovsky said. “We went through this whole planning process, then found out all detox facilities will have to meet a new standard, which is cost prohibitive.”

The detox facility isn’t the only Mind Springs facility shutting down. West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction, the only inpatient psychiatric hospital on the Western Slope, will also close March 10.

Jankovsky said the county wasn’t given much warning about either decision.

“We were completely caught off guard,” Jankovsky said. “So much time, effort, and money went into this. And now, it’s just gone.”

The withdrawal management program in Grand Junction will remain open.