St Joseph’s repairs are coming along

It was the worst accident at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in three decades. Not since a fire in the early ’80’s has the hospital faced such severe damage, and disruption.

Four days ago a major water line burst, flooding operating rooms and emergency areas that were only built two years ago. However, considering the water was more than ankle deep in some areas, the surgical suites and emergency area are bouncing back.

David Higgens, the President of St Joseph’s Hospital says the staff came through. They went above and beyond the call of duty, saving millions of dollars of hospital equipment and sterile medical supplies that would have taken two months to replace. Since then, work has been going on 24 hours a day, to essentially rebuild 12 operating rooms and 60% of the ER damaged by the flood.

It’s a far bigger task than you might imagine. Above the ceiling tiles lies a maze of different systems, all critical to the operation of surgical and emergency procedures.

Each one of those systems must be individually isolated and wrapped to prevent dirt and contamination from spreading throughout the hospital.

Thermography and moisture sensors are used to find damp areas behind the walls, and then all of the material is torn out, disposed of, and replaced. Each area is then sealed off and carefully charted to ensure that it’s made clean and sterile again, before being used for patient treatments.