By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Just about a month shy of celebrating its one-year anniversary, Faith Community Emergency Room in Bowie will be closing as of 7 a.m. on Oct. 6.
Frank L. Beaman, chief executive officer of Faith Community Health System, confirmed the closure to The Bowie News through a statement on Monday. Several employees of the ER had already contacted the Bowie News about the closure.
In the statement Beaman said the evaluations of productivity, utilization and economics of the facility and comparing the actual data again projections revealed, “The facility is not meeting the projections required to maintain operations.”
It continues the goal was to provide Level IV trauma emergency care, and that endeavor was successful with positive feedback. However, the utilization and referrals to Faith Community Health System’s main campus did not materialize. Faith also attempted to convert the facility under a new federal designation known as Rural Emergency Hospital, but the attempts were unsuccessful due to the way the legislation was written. It only allowed for conversion of an existing acute care hospital and does not provide for designation of a new ER like what was opened in Bowie. This eliminated any federal funding.
“Operating what effectively is a free-standing ER is simply not sustainable without a greater level of financial support from the community,” stated Beaman.
The ER’s grand opening took place on Oct. 23, 2023 after more than two years of work remodeling and repairing the old hospital. In mid-August 2021 Faith Community Health System officials announced its intentions to open the ER as an arm of its Jacksboro facility.
Bowie had been without any local hospital or ER care since early 2020 when Central Hospital closed. The nearest ER care came at Nocona General Hospital during that period. The fully operational Bowie Memorial Hospital closed on Nov. 16, 2015 after nearly 50 years of service to the area.
Read more about this closure in the Wednesday Bowie News.

Photo – Grand opening day tours of the Bowie ER last October. (Bowie News file photo)