Tukwila psychiatric hospital to close, lay off nearly 300 staff

Less than two years after a lengthy showdown with health care staff over workplace safety, a large psychiatric hospital in Tukwila is closing and plans to lay off an estimated 288 employees, the facility announced Friday.

Cascade Behavioral Health Hospital, a 137-bed psychiatric facility owned by Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, has begun to rapidly discharge patients and expects to cease operations by July 31. 

By Friday, fewer than 40 patients remained in the hospital’s open wards, officials confirmed.

The facility has served an estimated 25,000 patients since it opened a decade ago, according to its estimates. The hospital takes voluntary patients as well as those who are committed to treatment involuntarily because they’re a threat to themselves or others — or because they’re unable to care for their own physical and mental well-being.