The steam is pumping and the heat is on at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance’s Chatham site.
Boiler problems caused temperatures at the facility to dip recently, and elective surgeries were postponed at times as well.
Adam Topp, president and CEO of CKHA, said the boilers at the hospital were earmarked for replacement next year, but the units themselves had other ideas.
“Our boilers broke down last week (the week of Jan. 26). One stopped; one was having challenges,” he said. “The backup kicked in. We were still operational, but in a reduced capacity.”
As a result, elective surgeries took a hit. Topp said with less steam comes a reduced ability to reprocess medical devices, especially sterilizing surgical equipment.
Bluewater Health and Erie Shores Health helped with the reprocessing “to minimize impact on surgeries,” Topp added.
Equipment had to be hauled to and from Bluewater and Erie Shores to be reprocessed.
A new temporary boiler arrived on site Jan. 30, Topp said. It’s now up and running, and the hospital is back to normal temperatures.
But for more than a week, the cool down was felt.
“The heat to the hospital had been maintained, but it was not ideal,” Topp said. “Elective surgeries continued, but we just hadn’t done all the elective surgeries. And on Wednesday (Jan. 28), we cancelled all of them.”
He estimated 75 elective surgeries were pushed back over the past couple of weeks due to the boiler issue.
“Temporary boiler systems are now in place, inspected, and operational. These systems have stabilized our operations and allowed us to move forward with confidence while we plan and implement permanent solutions,” Topp said.
It’s estimated replacing the boilers will be about a $4-million investment.
“It’s going to take some time to plan out,” Topp said. “Our original plan was to do an RFP for that about a year from now. I don’t have a specific plan yet, but it just moved up about a year.”
Topp said the understanding of the issue from the public and staff was appreciated.
“To those patients and families who were affected by postponed procedures, I thank you for your understanding. To our staff, thank you for your extraordinary dedication. And to our community, thank you for your understanding and patience,” he said.
