Photo by Niamh Coomey. Members of Dr. Renato Dela Cruz could be seen outside of the hospital Tuesday afternoon moving equipment and office materials into a U-Haul truck after a hospital-wide power shut off.

MARTINS FERRY — East Ohio Regional Hospital was expected to go dark Wednesday, as American Electric Power Ohio planned to shut off power to the facility and connected medical offices due to unpaid bills that built up for more than a year.

AEP Ohio originally cut the power Tuesday morning but offered a temporary, 24-hour reprieve to allow those still working in the buildings time to move out their office materials. The company was set to disconnect the service again Wednesday morning, according to an AEP Ohio representative.

AEP Ohio said EORH’s largest electricity accounts were past due for more than a year. The power supplier said it had tried to work with the hospital on a plan to bring the accounts up to date, but the efforts had been “unsuccessful.”

It was the latest blow to the facility, which abruptly closed its doors the evening of March 20. Employees had gone weeks without being paid. Even without payment, some workers continued to serve patients.

Dr. Alfred Dunn — who has still been practicing on site since EORH’s closure — said he discovered that the hospital was running on emergency generator power when he went in at 8 a.m. Tuesday. He said he heard Tuesday about the shutoff from hospital administration.

Dunn said he had appointments with patients on his schedule Wednesday that he had to cancel.

“We will have to manage the best we can, hoping that our computers continue to work and that our electronic medical records continue to work,” Dunn said.

Dunn, among others, still has not been paid.

Some employees were scrambling on Tuesday to move their office materials out of the building and into trucks or personal vehicles.

Staff members of Dr. Renato Dela Cruz’s office were seen packing a U-Haul truck with office materials and equipment outside of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Dela Cruz rented office space on the second floor of the medical office building connected to EORH.

Staff received no notice that the power would be shut off, said part owner of the practice and office manager Justine Shreve.

Shreve said the team was worried that patients were stuck in elevators when the power went off. There were patients in the building when the power initially was cut, with many more having appointments scheduled throughout the day on Tuesday that had to be canceled on very short notice.

“We have a lot of elderly patients we were trying to get care to,” Shreve said.

As of Tuesday, the team was unsure where they would be moving their equipment.