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Oxnard hospital may shut down over mold
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More from Other NewsSt. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard may close for 10 days as soon as August 14 to fight an ongoing mold problem, according to a notification sent to the California Department of Health Services.
The notice, sent earlier this month, says the hospital is considering tenting its facility to eliminate the mold in a process that would halt all patient services at the Rose Avenue campus.
Operations would begin to phase down before the close date. An emergency room that treated about 45,000 people last year would shut down as soon as Aug. 8.
The hospital's off-site therapy services would not be impacted.
A final decision has not yet been made on whether or not to close temporarily, according to the notice. That decision is expected on May 15.
The 265-bed hospital is arguably the busiest in Ventura County, caring for and discharging for more than 17,000 patients last year. It has battled a mold problem since the Rose Avenue campus opened in 1992.
Workers are currently battling the mold by closing down a group of patient rooms, taking down wallboard and removing any contaminants.
"That process has been time-consuming and would likely continue to disrupt hospital operations for years to come," Murray said in his letter to the state, suggesting tenting the hospital would allow the mold problem to be addressed once and for all.
If the hospital closes temporarily, Murray has said, staff will work closely with other hospitals to make sure patients get the care they need.
Posted by surfmedic91 on May 7, 2007 at 3:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like it's been an issue and with the heat at Walter Reed, St. Johns is under the gun.....and a way to get govt money to pay for it.
Yeah, right....the isn't going to work closely with other hospitals. They're going to sit back and collect their union pay as all the other hospitals get back logged.
Posted by OxnardNative on May 8, 2007 at 6:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder if the builder is paying for any of the corrective actions? I think they are the responsible party. I have an idea; why not move back to the OLD Saint John's while they deal with the mold at the new facility. I'll bet there are no mold issues at the old site, just weeds and transients.
Posted by FrankDiscussion on May 8, 2007 at 6:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tenting? That sounds like something exterminators might do but eliminating mold in a HOSPITAL would seem to me to require getting inside of and cleaning out the walls of mold growth. Tenting implies biocides or heating the building, neither of which either address the root cause.. (duh, moisture/condensation and mold food, i.e. sheetrock)
It seems to me that often, shortcuts end up wasting more time and money than simply doing things right the first time. I've heard that dry ice blasting with vaccumn inside of a containment structure is the best way to remove mold quickly without contaminating a structure. (In any situation where mold is being removed, containment is crucial.)
Dry ice blasting removes mold growth on wood structural members but it does not remove healthy solid wood. Of course all moldy sheetrock needs to be removed, but you can't see how much needs to be removed without opening up the walls first. In a containment! (this is especially important in a hospital situation, which should be obvious)
Did I mention containment? Containment!
See the EPA's "Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings" pamphlet on the web.
If people are getting sick, the drug cholestyramine has been used successfully in thousands of patients to remove the mold toxins from enterohepatic recirculation, (the bile) where they accumulate, causing chronic fatigue, massive inflammation throughout the body, brain hypoxia, lifetime allergic sensitizations, eosinophilic diseases, immunosuppression, etc.
Molds can also colonize the body causing aspergillosis and many other problems.
Aspergillosis is very dangerous.
Posted by jsilvio on May 18, 2007 at 1:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
FRANKDISCUSSION - WOULDN'T THE HEAT METHOD DRY OUT THE MOISTURE/CONDENSATION IN THE WALLS?
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