| Asbestos concern closes hospital |
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| Local Content - Local News |
| Written by publisher |
| Tuesday, 02 March 2010 21:27 |
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By Allison Werbowetsky Patients and staff of the Maple Creek Hospital were caught off guard by a surprise evacuation Thursday evening, as rumours of an air quality concern began circulating the hospital. Beth Vachon, director of community health services for Cypress Health Region, says a trace amount of loose asbestos found in a maintenance room was the culprit. Although there were no official tests done at that time, it was in the best interest of all patients and staff to be relocated. “We made the determination that we wanted to close the hospital and transfer our patients who were there out, and close the building until we could get this further assessed,” she said. The evacuation was purely precautionary. “We’re not sure if we have an air quality problem or not,” Vachon said Friday afternoon. “Again, it’s very precautionary on our part, doing due diligence because this has come to our attention. We really are required to act on this and that’s what we’re doing.” The health region became aware of the asbestos concern on Feb. 18, after the director of occupational health and safety, Geoff Schwan, met with the occupational health and safety (OH&S) committee in Maple Creek for a routine meeting. It wasn’t until after he arrived back in Swift Current later that day and listened to a message left on his voice mail from one of the members of the committee that he learned of the possible asbestos concern in the hospital. Schwan went back to Maple Creek the next day and after conducting a visual inspection himself, determined it did in fact look like loose asbestos. He took samples and sent them off to the provincial OH&S lab the following Monday (Feb. 22). At 4 p.m. three days later (Feb. 25), the health region received confirmation that it was asbestos and there was a possibility it could be airborne. By 5 p.m. patients and staff were being transfered to other locations. One patient was discharged home, three were transferred to Shaunavon Hospital and one went to the regional hospital in Swift Current Further air quality sampling took place that Friday (Feb. 26), and a formalized assessment on Feb. 27 determined removal of the asbestos was necessary. The health region is still unsure how long the asbestos in that room has been a concern, and although the amount of asbestos found was small, there really is no safe amount if it is disturbed into the air. However, consulting chief medical officer, Dr. David Torr says it’s not as bad as it sounds. “This is not an acute exposure to asbestos, it was not like a large quantity of asbestos was released into the air environment,” said director of communications, Bryce Martin, reiterating Dr. Torr’s comments from earlier that morning. “He wants it to be known that asbestos is in the environment around us ... so it’s not that a minimal exposure to asbestos is going to create a chaotic situation,” Martin added. Chaos, however, still occurred. Heather Reznechenko’s mother-in-law was one of the patients transfered to Shaunavon Thursday night. The elderly woman was not told what was going on or why she had to leave. “My mother-in-law was very anxious and unsure about what was going on. The hospital staff had no directives. They didn’t know what the problem was either, but I think everyone surmised at the time that it had to be poor air quality,” Rezenechenko said Sunday morning. “It was mass confusion. No communication from the health region at all as to what the problem was, what their plan was going to be for these patients or who had to be moved out. To this date we still have not had any communication from the health region,” she added. Reznechenko spoke with an employee from the health region Thursday night, who she says, just skirted around the issue. “He really had no compassion or care for what was happening to these patients or the families that were involved,” she commented. Rezenechenko’s primary concern is why they were given no option where her mother-in-law was to be relocated. They would have preferred Swift Current, as she had been there before for treatment. It was familiar to her and she has family there to come visit. They were told there were no available beds there, but “I don’t buy that,” she said. “She’s receiving extraordinary care (in Shaunavon), but that’s not the issue. The issue is the communication from the health region and how come we couldn’t get her into Swift Current? It’s very important for her not to get anxious with her condition, and this whole situation has caused her to become anxious which affects her breathing and her mindset. This is traumatic to her,” Rezenechenko commented. It is unknown how long patients will have to remain out of Maple Creek Hospital, however they are anticipating it will be at least a week. An asbestos abatement company is said to begin removal in the hospital on Mar. 1 and it will remain closed until further notice. A 24-hour nursing staff and on-call physician service was set up at the Pacific Avenue Medical Clinic over the weekend. Details on whether that will continue through the week are yet to be released. There are no lab services, X-ray services, acute care or emergency care available at the clinic. People requiring emergency services are asked to call 9-1-1. Updates pertaining to other services such as home care, community health, mental health and addictions should become available within the next couple of days. People are encouraged to visit the website at www.cypresshealth.ca. It is still unclear whether or not the asbestos had spread throughout the hospital. However, that maintenance room houses the ventilation and air handling processes for the entire hospital. “There is potential for the asbestos to be part of the environment within the facility. That’s the pros and cons of such a system that you’re continuously bringing in fresh air, but at the same time as you distribute that fresh air throughout the building you’re also distributing any dust and allergens,” Martin said. “It’s potentially risky,” so “we’re taking the steps to ensure that the asbestos is properly cleaned up, disposed of, and we make sure at that point in time that the air quality environment is suitable to have the clients and staff back in there,” he continued. Despite all this, Vachon says routine formal air quality tests will not become a regular requirement for the health region. They will, however, continue doing periodic visual inspections. |
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