Emory University Hospital in Midtown must divert and relocate some patients after massive water outage

Emory University Hospital in Midtown must move some patients and divert ambulances a day after numerous water main breaks left much of Atlanta without water, a hospital spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The situation became so bad on Saturday afternoon that the hospital – which has around 500 inpatients – doesn’t even have enough water pressure to flush toilets and is forced to rely on water. bottled water for all your water needs.

Credit: TAYLOR CARPENTER / AJC

Credit: TAYLOR CARPENTER / AJC

The emergency department at Emory University Hospital in Midtown is diverted for ambulance traffic, except for patients with urgent cardiac issues. Dr. Adam Webb, Emory Midtown’s chief operating officer, said patients who walk or drive to the emergency department are still being accepted and cared for as usual.

About 10 patients requiring dialysis were transferred to other Emory hospitals for treatment. Dialysis depends on the pressure of a local municipal water supply.

“Health care is already difficult enough to care for patients in a hospital,” Webb, who is also a neurocritical care specialist, said in an interview, “and if you add to that not having water, not being able to flush the toilet and other things. Disturbing things at home are really a challenge and make the job even more complex.

Much of Atlanta, including all of downtown, has been without water since Friday afternoon after crews began repairing broken 48-inch and 36-inch transmission lines below the Joseph E. Boone Boulevard. As the hours passed, the problems multiplied.

Webb said they made the decision Friday night around 11 p.m. to begin diverting ambulance traffic.

Webb said pallets of bottled water were stacked throughout the hospital. He said they were “trying to maintain the status quo” as long as possible with the patients they had, but he said the impact that would ripple throughout the hospital would only become more difficult as the hours, if not days, pass without a reliable source of municipal water.

Most outpatient medical appointments, such as oncology and radiology appointments, were rescheduled for another day on Saturday. or have been transferred to another Emory site. Some lab tests have also been transferred to other Emory hospitals.

Webb said Midtown Hospital also had to transport and carefully disinfect medical equipment from other Emory facilities during this water outage. And MRI tests are also affected, he said. The magnet inside the MRI machine needs constant cold running water to stay cool and ensure the medical equipment operates efficiently.

Meanwhile, to keep the hospital cool and the air conditioning running, 58,000 gallons of water were delivered via six tanker trucks for use in the hospital’s chillers and cooling towers. The water is provided by the local fire department and delivered by a tanker company, the hospital said. Webb said he expects another delivery by late Saturday evening.

Emory University Hospital in Midtown said food service staff are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to ensure safe food preparation, but added that food options are limited for patients, visitors and the staff.

“We are confident that we have been able to maintain safe care and conditions,” Webb said. “But it’s been very difficult and I think it’s a situation that shows the vulnerabilities in our ability to provide health care based on our infrastructure.”

Earlier Saturday, Grady Memorial Hospital confirmed that the hospital continues to experience low water pressure. Elective procedures remain canceled, but the hospital remains “fully operational and our emergency room is accepting all patients,” according to a statement from Grady administrators Saturday morning.

“Hospital leadership and our facilities team work directly with our care teams to ensure we maintain the same level of quality medical care for our patients,” the release said.