For the second time in the past two months, Fanny Allen hospital in Colchester is responding to a mystery odor that caused multiple staff members to seek medical care.
However, this time around the hospital’s response is more serious. All five of the hospitals operating rooms will be closed this week as hospital officials and state hazardous materials experts conduct an investigation into the source of the odor.
The latest odor was first reported on Nov. 27 in Operating Room 4, according to Dr. Steve Leffler, interim president of the University of Vermont Medical Center, which includes Fanny Allen. Seven staff members who reported feeling lightheaded and nauseous sought treatment at the urgent care center on site. Leffler said two staff members had their blood tested and “had very low levels of carbon monoxide in their blood.”
The smell reported last week is the same odor staff reported on Oct. 9. During that incident, 17 staff members were treated at the urgent care center for similar symptoms. Leffler said two staff members were also found to have “very low levels of carbon monoxide in their blood” after that incident. UVMMC executives said the staff reported “the smell of exhaust, or something that smelled like fumes,” and they felt “sick to their stomach.”
Following that incident, one operating room was closed for the day.
The odor reported in October started in Operating Room 1 and spread to other rooms. Last week’s incident started in Operating Room 4 and then spread to others, Leffler said.
Hospital officials are still unaware of what is causing the odors in the operating rooms.
“Around both episodes, we did immediate testing of air quality in the rooms that were affected and could find no evidence on careful testing of any dangerous gasses,” Leffler said. He added that the wind was blowing in opposite directions during the two incidents, from the north in October, and from the south last week, “so it doesn’t seem like it’s related to the wind outside.”
Leffler said hospital management made the decision in a leadership meeting last week to close the operating rooms at Fanny Allen this week and move as many planned surgeries as possible to the hospital’s main campus in Burlington so staff can conduct a thorough inspection of all the rooms.
The air exchange system has been “thoroughly” inspected by hospital staff, VOSHA and an air quality consultant the hospital hired. Leffler said the filters were changed after the October report, but noted the building is older and there are some other structural challenges they will take into consideration as staff conduct their inspections this week.
“Honestly, we’re not certain what’s causing it,” Leffler said. “And that’s part of the reason we want to use this week to do further investigations.”
Following the Oct. 9 incident, VTDigger reported the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration was not investigating the incident because no affected staff received inpatient care or filed complaints. On Oct. 31, following an employee complaint to VOSHA, Monahan confirmed the agency began conducting an investigation.
Monahan said Monday the latest report will be added to the investigation files. VOSHA employees will conduct more interviews with management and affected staff this week. He said VOSHA does not have a timeline on when he hopes to find an answer to the problem. Laws regarding these investigations mandate the investigation be concluded six months after it is opened.
Ben Truman, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health, said it was made aware of the latest incident when UVMMC reported it to Vermont Emergency Management and the state’s Hazardous Materials Response Team. Leffler said the HAZMAT team will be on site at Fanny Allen this week.
Truman said he didn’t have enough firsthand information about the incident to provide further details, and the people who would know are either out of the country or were unavailable to speak with him Monday.
Whatever problems investigators may find this week will determine whether or not the operating rooms will be open again next week, Leffler said.
Deb Snell, president of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, the union which represents nurses and other staff at UVMMC, said the union’s role through these incidents is to make sure the hospital is taking the correct steps to keep staff safe.
“We just need to figure out what the hell is going on over at Fanny Allen,” she said.
Snell said she was more satisfied with the response from hospital administrators this time around in their decision to close the operating rooms for the week. She said she sat in on a few interviews with union members and VOSHA staff after the October report, in which members were vocal with their dissatisfaction in the response from UVMMC.
“I know VOSHA was a little bit stumped about what was going on,” Snell said. “I’m hoping that taking this week to really delve into the roof and see what’s going on may be helpful.”
