After an eating disorder treatment center closed March 3 with just five days notice, employees, patients and their families were left with few options.

McCallum Place, which opened last year and offered Columbia’s only outpatient care for eating disorders, released a statement last month stating that the center would close and “reallocate resources” to its St. Louis clinic.

The center’s 20 employees and about a dozen patients were given no severance benefits nor assistance in locating alternate treatment, [according to the Columbia Daily Tribune](http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/local/eating-disorder-clinic-closes-with-little-notice/article_f6eaeb2a-3568-5fcb-ad6a-127e1d7084d8.html).

Columbia resident Amy Meyer started an online petition to reopen McCallum Place, and it has received nearly 200 signatures in about a month.

“It is our request that Acadia Healthcare honor their commitment to the patients of their facility and reopen McCallum Place in Columbia, MO, or at the very least, offer transitional care or assistance in finding continued care for their patients, as there are no other treatment facilities within 125 miles,” Meyer [wrote in her petition](https://www.change.org/p/acadia-healthcare-re-open-mccallum-place-mid-missouri-s-only-eating-disorder-treatment-facility).

Meyer did not take news of the closure well.

“[I was] shocked, not only at the loss of a very needed and valuable resource for Columbia, but in the way in which it was handled,” Meyer said. “Closing a facility with only five days notice to the patients, families and staff is completely irresponsible and cruel.”

Meyer’s daughter suffered from anorexia and received life-saving treatment at McCallum Place.

“She was in a really bad place when she entered treatment in January of 2016,” Meyer said. “She received care and therapy for seven months and is now able to manage most of her struggles on her own. They taught her the skills and gave her the love and support needed to get strong enough to use the skills on her own.”

Columbia resident Marilyn Cummins also signed the petition and called the closure “a matter of life and death.”

“From a professional standpoint, I couldn’t believe that they would just pick up and close like that without any kind of transition for the employees or the clients who are being seen for pretty serious conditions,” Cummins said. “You have this trust relationship built up with counselors and caregivers, and it just didn’t seem right, didn’t seem fair.”

According to its website, McCallum Place combines a variety of psychological, medical and nutritional therapies aimed at creating “a safe and supportive environment” for every patient. This includes partial hospitalization and outpatient treatment, as well as other methods.

Many signers blamed Acadia Healthcare, the company that owns McCallum Place, and its corporate mentality for the sudden closure, citing a desire for profit over individual care.

“It is apparent that Acadia is not interested in the health of their patients, they are only interested in lining their pockets,” wrote Jeanette Esser, a resident of Blackwater, Missouri, about 40 miles west of Columbia.

Meyer said she tried reaching out to Acadia for answers but was “disconnected” every time.

“Unfortunately with a company as large as Acadia, it’s hard to get through, but they did have enough complaints on their Facebook page that they took [the page] down,” Meyer said. “Ultimately, we hope that the patients and families making decisions of whether or not to support Acadia in the future, are aware of this behavior and that Acadia would take responsibility and at the very least offer an apology to those they abandoned.”

Acadia Healthcare did not respond to The Maneater’s request for comment. Former McCallum Place staff that did respond said Acadia had asked them not to speak to the media.

_Edited by Madi McVan | mmcvan@themaneater.com_