Carilion Clinic: Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital is Open - Emergency Room is Accepting Patients: Attn: Media

Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital re-opened at 1:00 p.m. The Emergency Department is no longer diverting patients to other hospitals.

Details about the incident:

A 1" water pipe burst in a 1st floor bathroom shortly after 2:00 a.m. The cause of the break has not been determined.
Water to the building was shut off to minimize the damage. At that point the amount of damage and status of the water system was unknown, and it was determined that the hospitals patients should be moved to other facilities to make sure their quality of care was not affected.
The hospital Emergency Department went on "diversion", meaning that all area EMS crews were notified to take emergency patients to other hospitals in the area. Ambulances were placed on standby at the Emergency Department entrance to transport any emergency patients who came to the hospital by private vehicle.
20 patients were in the facility. 2 patients were well enough to be discharged. The most seriously ill patients were transferred firs - 6 patients were transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial, 5 to Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, 1 to Princeton. (Note - Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation sent 13 ambulances to facilitate the transfer, CCPT ambulances are equipped to transport intensive care patients without interrupting their level of care)
With six patients remaining in the hospital - it was determined that infrastructure damage was minimal and hospital could reopen soon. Those patients were not transferred. Most of the damage occurred on the floor below the patient care area, where Cardiac Rehabilitation, Patient Records and other support offices are located.
The hospital and the Emergency Department reopened at 1:00 p.m.
Carilion will contact the patients who were transferred, their families and physicians, and transport them back to CGMH if they choose to return.

For more info on how Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation responded to the incident, visit the CCPT Blog.

Click below to hear CGHM VP and Hospital Administrator James Tyler talk about the decision to close the hospital.

(Left) Cardiac Rehabilitation equipment is covered to protect it from dripping water. (Right) Office hallway in the process of being dried and cleaned. (click for larger photo)