Wesley House to close doors

  Elizabeth City’s Wesley Hospitality House will be officially closing its doors March 31.

  Wesley Hospitality House is where families of patients have been able to stay affordably while their loved ones are treated at Albemarle Hospital.

  A combination of the poor economy and declining need for Wesley House’s services prompted the decision to close the 11-year-old facility. Since the  opening of Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head a few years ago, Outer Banks residents no longer have to drive to Elizabeth City for treatment. That in turn has dramatically decreased the need for family accommodations at Wesley House. Ninety percent of the people from Dare County don’t have to travel to Elizabeth City for medical attention.

  Wesley Hospitality House opened in 1999 under the direction of Jim Huskins, a Methodist minister who wanted to create a place for the families of Albemarle Hospital patients to stay while they were in Elizabeth City. More than 6,000 families have stayed at Wesley House since it opened. (From www.obxcommongood.org)