Operating rooms at the Fanny Allen hospital in Colchester will be closed through December and planned surgeries will be rescheduled following a second report of an exhaust-like odor causing staff to become ill.
Patients with planned surgeries will be contacted “as soon as possible” via phone by their provider’s office to reschedule operations at the UVM Medical Center’s main campus in Burlington, the hospital announced in a press release Wednesday.
“We understand that rescheduling a surgery is inconvenient, and we apologize in advance to any patients who may have procedures moved,” interim president of UVMMC Dr. Steve Leffler said in the statement.
While the operating rooms are closed, hospital staff, assisted by the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration and an outside environmental consultant, will conduct a more thorough inspection of the rooms to determine the cause of the odors.
Hospital officials still do not know what is causing the odor. Officials have also maintained that no patients were affected by the odor that has caused more than 20 staff members to seek medical treatment.
Leffler said in the statement that the decision to close operating rooms is the best option to ensure the safety of staff and patients. “It’s important for us to take the time we need to get this right,” he added.
Leffler said in an interview Monday the operating rooms would be closed for the rest of the week while crews work to find the problem. He said whatever problems they may find would determine if the operating rooms would be opened again next week.
Air tests have routinely been conducted in the operating rooms and the rest of the building, but those tests so far have failed to find a cause of the odors.
Seven staff members were treated at the urgent care center on site after the most recent report on Nov. 27. Leffler said two of the affected staff had their blood tested and showed they “had very low levels of carbon monoxide in their blood.”
The incident last week is the second time in the last two months the same odor has been reported by staff. The first report came on Oct. 9, when 17 staff members were evaluated at the urgent care after “feeling sick to their stomach,” hospital administrators said.
“While air quality was shown to be safe after both incidents, and in the interim, a cause of the smells – which other employees had described alternately as ‘hamburger,’ ‘bacon,’ or ‘two-stroke fuel’ – had yet to be determined,” Wednesday’s press release said.
It said operating rooms are the only impacted areas. “The rest of the building, including the rehabilitation center and other areas, has been repeatedly tested and continues to operate as usual.”
The hospital is working with the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration to resolve the issue, mandated by law after two employees filed complaints, according to VOSHA’s director of workers’ compensation and safety division Stephen Monahan.
An employee filed a complaint with VOSHA on Oct. 29 saying seven staff members had symptoms consistent with long-term exposure to carbon monoxide, “Vertigo, nausea, General malaise.”
Any patients with questions about their surgery are asked to contact their surgeon.
