Air conditioning out at Chicago's Weiss Memorial Hospital, patients sent elsewhere
Patients at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood had to be transported elsewhere with the air conditioning out on Tuesday afternoon.
CBS News Chicago spoke with one family who said the thermostat read 87 degrees in her mom's room at Weiss before the woman was transported.
The hospital said it may take several days before the system is back up and running.
Patient after patient was seen being transported out of the emergency doors of Weiss Memorial Hospital, at 4646 N. Marine Dr., on Tuesday evening.
Each one was loaded into ambulances due to what authorities called the "catastrophic loss" of the air conditioning system.
"That's why we've got everything — two fans in here. She got one USB," John Celestino, who came to visit his 92-year-old mom in the morning, said as he went through a bag of items he brought. "It's like, 'This is weird.' I start seeing AC units or portables in the hallway."
Half a dozen repair trucks were seen outside the back door of the hospital on Tuesday. Hospital management said the aging infrastructure has not been properly maintained by previous owners.
"Thanks to the city of Chicago inspector that I saw earlier, and I was like, 'OK, they're here for, you know, something serious now,'" said Celestino.
In the meantime, patients like Celestino's mom are being transported to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and other area hospitals.
"What we heard from the staff that the AC's been down for months," Celestino said.
While it was not known Tuesday night how long the system had been out, Celestino said they know the air conditioning has not been working in his mom's room since Saturday.
"For a hospital, you know, it's really, you know, totally unacceptable and sad," Celestino said.
The hospital said the outpatient and supporting areas were not impacted.
The emergency room is redirecting ambulances, but is open to walk-in patients. However, any patients who need to be admitted will be transported to another facility.
Weiss released the following statement:
"Weiss Memorial Hospital has experienced a catastrophic loss of its air conditioning system. A team of mechanics are working diligently to restore the systems which is estimated to take several days given that the aging infrastructure had not been properly maintained by its previous owners. Once the repairs are completed the hospital will need to be cooled to a comfortable temperature before being allowed to resume operations.
"In the interest of patient safety, we have transferred most of our valued patients to our sister hospital West Suburban Medical Center and have tapped other area hospitals to assist. The outpatient areas and its supporting areas will remain open as those areas are not impacted. Our Emergency Room is re-directing ambulances but remains open for walk-in patients. If any of these patients need admission, they will be stabilized and transferred to another facility.
"We are all working to resolve this matter. Inconvenience to everyone is deeply regretted."
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