Photo Provided Belmont Community Hospital in Bellaire will close its doors on April 5. Wheeling Hospital will offer positions to Belmont Community Hospital’s 93 employees where job openings are available.

BELLAIRE — Belmont Community Hospital, which has served the area for 105 years, will be closed permanently as of April 5.

The 99-bed acute care hospital was acquired by Wheeling Hospital in 1996. Belmont Community Hospital employs 93 people and Wheeling Hospital will offer positions to those employees within its system where job openings are available, officials said Tuesday.

The six area health centers that operate under BCH will remain open. Those health centers are located in St. Clairsville, Bellaire, Shadyside, Colerain, Bridgeport and Powhatan Point.

Utilization of BCH has continued to decline despite efforts to offer varying services at the facility, officials said.

“The decline has placed a financial strain on BCH that cannot be sustained in the long term,” Belmont Community Hospital officials said in a statement.

“In addition, population decline, patient needs and the emergence of specialized patient services also have contributed to the decline in demand for services at BCH.”

Currently, Acuity Health Care leases some space within the facility where it provides rehabilitation services. The fate of the Acuity operation remains unknown.

Lisa Bien, vice president of communications for Acuity, said Tuesday the health care firm did not have a comment on the matter.

The hospital opened as Bellaire City Hospital in 1914. The facility’s first expansion occurred in 1956 with a final building addition in 1972.

In early January, officials announced that Belmont Community Hospital had closed its behavioral medicine unit.

At that time, Gregg Warren, Wheeling Hospital’s vice president of marketing and public relations, said, “Over the past year, BCH has been gradually reducing some of its services throughout the hospital.”

After becoming an affiliate of Wheeling Hospital, the hospital offered primary care and selected specialty services at its primary facility in Bellaire. The hospital has offered a full array of inpatient services including pediatrics, intensive care, orthopedic surgery, cardiac care, rehabilitation and mental health. The hospital has operated a 24-hour emergency department and has three surgical suites.