‘‘I consider it to be a devastating blow, because a huge amount of healthcare will disappear completely,” Ecker said Tuesday, as hundreds of hospital employees rallied around him at Cheverly’s Prince George’s Hospital Center.

If the board decides to close, 2,300 hospital employees will be out of work, and thousands of patients will be forced to find healthcare elsewhere.

Most of the 180,000 patients who use the hospital each year are uninsured. Ecker said nearby regional facilities, including Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton and Doctors Community Hospital in Lanham, are already at capacity.

The hospital is required to notify employees within 60 days of a decision to close. Ecker said once they’re notified, the shutdown would probably be completed within three months.

‘‘A lot of employees are still in denial, and waiting for that big miracle,” said Jennifer Bell, director of medical affairs at Cheverly.

The system includes the Cheverly center, the Bowie Health Campus and the Laurel Regional Hospital, all of which offer emergency services. The Cheverly trauma center, the second busiest in the state, sees 3,100 patients per year, 97 percent of whom survive, according to the hospital.

Trauma services director Carnell Cooper said if the hospital closes, ‘‘It means patients potentially could die.”

As officials spoke, rescue helicopters landed and took off from the roof of the hospital. The rescue choppers are just a slice of what will disappear if the hospital closes.

‘‘It’s going to have a very adverse effect on emergency services,” said Frederick Smalls, Laurel City Council President and member of the Laurel Regional Board of Directors.

‘‘Our ambulances are now going to have to travel greater distances going to hospitals, so they’re going to have to be out of service and out of their service area for longer periods of time.”

Other health-care facilities in Prince George’s and surrounding jurisdictions will face an influx of patients from the closing hospitals, said Thomas Grant, spokesman for Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

‘‘This is a huge challenge. But we’re committed to serving [nearby] communities and continue offering care to them,” Grant said. He added that 41 percent of Washington Adventist’s patients live in Prince George’s.

Asked whether hospitals in Montgomery County and Washington could be overwhelmed by new patients, Grant said, ‘‘There’s a chance for that. This is going to have a huge impact on hospitals across the region.”

Maxine Norris, 85, a longtime volunteer at Laurel Regional, said it would be a ‘‘disaster” to lose the Laurel hospital, adding that longer commutes for hospital care would be a hardship on seniors.

But she was optimistic the hospital system could be saved.

‘‘Right now, I’m not looking at closure,” said Norris of Beltsville. ‘‘I’m looking at, ‘We’re going to hang in there.’”

Ecker said the hospital’s first priority would be to coordinate with state authorities to find facilities for long-term care patients.

‘‘They’re our first concern,” he said.

The Prince George’s system also offers unique services for diabetics, sexual assault victims, psychiatric patients and other patients.

More than 2,300 hospital employees may be looking for new jobs over the next six months, so the SEIU United Healthcare Workers East labor union will try to help its 1,800 local members find jobs at other regional hospitals, said Quincy Gamble, the union’s political director.

‘‘You’re talking about workers who have given their lives to providing care at these hospitals,” Gamble said Tuesday, only hours after last-minute talks between county and state officials fell through. ‘‘And now it looks like it’s going to end horribly for them. ... It’s just going to be disastrous for people.”

Stephen McAdams, administrative coordinator for the Laurel Board of Trade, said closing Laurel Regional Hospital, which employs 670 people, could deliver a devastating blow to smaller healthcare facilities nearby.

‘‘It’s not just the direct jobs. ... We’ve got lots of local healthcare providers that are located either directly across the street or in a couple of square miles,” McAdams said. ‘‘I’m sure all of them would have some sort of impact if the local hospital closed, and it wouldn’t be a positive impact.”

Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson said Tuesday he was seeking a meeting with Dimensions Healthcare officials to learn the fate of Bowie Health Center. While he has fears that the potential closure of Prince George’s Hospital Center would overload other medical centers such as Bowie and Doctor’s Community Hospital, Robinson said he is more concerned that a critical medical facility in the largest city in the county may shut down.

‘‘I don’t want to wake up one morning and find a closed sign at the health center,” Robinson said.

Staff Writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this article.

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.