Portable air conditioners and ventilators help cool Carleton Place Hospital | Rare Techy

Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital is relying on portable fans to keep things warm after equipment failed on the hottest day of the year.

A hospital spokesperson told CTV News Ottawa that there was no air conditioning in the hospital Sunday afternoon, as the humidex temperature was 40 degrees.

The president of the hospital said on Monday that it was due to a lack of equipment.

“When we reopened and returned to normal operations, we experienced a heat-related equipment failure, which was not expected and the hottest day of the year,” said the president of hospital and CEO Mary Wilson Trider on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s ” Ottawa at Work” with guest host Patricia Boal.

Wilson Trider said the hospital’s maintenance team and local contractors provided portable AC units to help cool the hospital in the short term while they worked to repair the unit. main.

“We have a machine on site with some cooling parts to control the temperature. There is a part that we need our contractors to find for you. Until that part is found, we will continue with these temporary solution in order. to maintain the correct temperature in the house,” he said.

News of the gas leak at Carleton Place Hospital came hours after the emergency department opened after a 24-hour closure. The ER at Carleton Place and Memorial District Hospital was closed from 7 a.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday due to a lack of nurses.

Wilson Trider said the decision was made for the patient’s safety, but he was concerned.

However, he can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.

“In the short term, we will do everything we can to avoid closing the emergency department again. It has been working under the COVID conditions since March of 2020, something That’s really important. Life happens,” he said.

“We don’t have lots and lots of people on our roster to fill, but we’re doing the best, pulling all the stops, and working very closely through our network. Mississippi River Health Alliance and Almonte General Hospital to do everything we can to make sure we don’t close the emergency department again, but I can’t say it won’t happen.”

He said he hasn’t heard of anyone being adversely affected by the closure in recent weeks, but he knows it will affect the community.

“The people of Carleton Place depend on the emergency department, so they’re worried when we close,” he said. “People are worried that they have to go to another community and some people have gone further than they were willing to take care of.”

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Natalie van Rooy