The operators of an Ohio nursing home closed abruptly Friday, giving its 55 residents and the state less than a day’s notice that they would have to find new accommodations.

Staff — who found out Thursday that they were not being paid for past work and losing their jobs — were “integral” for staying on and helping residents transition quickly out of River’s Bend Health Care, an official with the Ohio Department of Health told McKnight’s.

Many of the newly unemployed stayed overnight to make sure the residents were safe and as comfortable as possible.

According to Nursing Home Compare, the for-profit River’s Bend is owned wholly by RDMT Properties and its principal, Ronald Lyons. The company shares a phone number with the facility, where an unidentified employee said Friday that the administrator and owner were not accepting phone calls.

When asked the reason behind the sudden closure, the employee hung up the phone.

Although some employees told a local TV station that there’d been rumors of a possible closure, the state heard nothing until about 11 a.m. on Thursday — the same time staff were asked to conduct an “evacuation.”

“They should have given us 90 days and they gave us less than one,” health department spokesman J.C. Benton said Friday afternoon. “We had less than a day to do what usually takes three months.”

Benton said it is unlikely the nursing home would be penalized for its failure to advise of the shutdown, noting that they “aren’t able to pay their bills.” In a press release issued Friday night, the Ohio Department of Aging attributed the closure directly to an inability to make payroll.

The 80-bed facility was not full Thursday and had only 56 residents at the time of its last health inspection in November. The inspection resulted in 20 citations, more than double the state average.

The owner had planned to close the doors Thursday evening, Benton said, but the facility was forced to stay open longer because 14 residents who could not be moved by nightfall. Benton expected they would all be in new homes by the weekend.

The health department, along with the Ohio Department of Aging and the Ohio Department of Medicaid, were onsite working with residents and families.