Air Conditioning Malfunction Turns Hospital Into A Sauna

When Most people think of air conditioning, they immediately think of home or their car... this is an article about commercial a/c units malfunctioning in a hospital and suspending operations...

Surgical procedures had to be postponed and emergency cases were sent elsewhere after a malfunction shut down the air conditioning system at Lancaster General Hospital for about 3 1/2 hours Wednesday evening, officials said.

The mishap may have cost millions of dollars in damaged supplies alone, said a medical staff member who was there at the time.

“The place immediately turned into a sauna,” said the staff member, who is not authorized to speak and is not being identified.

The hallways were foggy and in the operating rooms, “there was water running down the windows and pooling on the floor,” the person said.

The shutdown lasted from 5 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m., hospital spokeswoman Rosanne Placey said.

The interruption was partial and hit the operating rooms the hardest, she said.

No in-progress surgery was stopped, she said. However, several cases were moved to Women & Babies Hospital, a sister facility within the Lancaster General Health system.

Emergency room and trauma cases were diverted from 7:30 p.m. Wednesday until just after 10 a.m. Thursday, she said.

During that period, Lancaster EMS, which handles many of the trauma calls that go to LGH, transported one patient there and diverted eight to other local hospitals, executive director Bob May said.

All of Thursday’s scheduled surgeries were canceled while LGH evaluated the situation, Placey said. Hospital staff were planning to reschedule them over the weekend.

The hospital did not immediately explain the cause of the air conditioning malfunction.

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