The University of Vermont Medical Center will reopen the operating rooms at Fanny Allen, even though it has not determined the source of the mysterious odor that sickened staff members.
After four months of investigations and two months of closure, hospital officials said they were sure the building was safe enough to be reopened the week of Jan. 27. UVM Medical Center announced the decision in a press release Wednesday.
“The building is safe and we’re going to keep monitoring,” said spokesperson Annie Mackin. “It’s now probably the safest place of any facility we have. It’s wired to the gills.”
Staff have installed carbon monoxide detectors and air sampling canisters in the buildings, and employees will wear detectors as well. In coming months, the medical center will upgrade the kitchen exhaust system, install filters in the operating room and install a weather station on the roof to help determine the cause in the case of future problems.
The operating rooms closed after employees reported smelling an odor — which they described at the time as “hamburger,” “bacon,” or “two-stroke fuel” — that left them feeling light-headed and nauseous on two different occasions. On Oct. 9, 17 staff members went to urgent care after feeling “sick to their stomachs” because of the smell. Then on Nov. 27 seven staff members reported smelling a scent and experiencing similar symptoms.
After each incident, two staff members were found to have low levels of carbon monoxide in their blood. UVM Medical Center closed the operating rooms at Fanny Allen in early December.
Since then, the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, internal and external air quality consultants, and an outside occupational health expert have investigated; none have found any cause for the issue. They also haven’t found any elevated levels of carbon monoxide anywhere in the building, according to Mackin.
The closure has resulted in a backlog of surgery patients. The Medical Center rescheduled roughly 650 patients over December and January. Some appointments were moved to Porter Medical Center in Middlebury or Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin. The hospital also started scheduling surgeries in the evenings and on Saturdays. Other patients were asked to consider rescheduling their elective surgeries for a year — December 2020.
The hospital will offer a soft opening at Fanny Allen the week of Jan. 27 and if things go smoothly, gradually ramp up to full capacity, according to Mackin. It will continue to schedule operations in the evenings and on weekends until the backlog of patients is over. Surgeons also will continue working at Porter and CVMC for the foreseeable future, she said.
““It forced us to look at more creative ways to work together,” Mackin said. “And if it works we want to keep doing it.”
UVMMC made the decision to return to Fanny Allen with the help of a staff advisory group.
“I believe the majority of staff are ready to go back there,” said Deb Snell, president of the nurses union. Some had concerns about the safety of the facility, but “no one’s going to be forced to do something they don’t want to do.”
The decision to return was a collaborative one, Snell added. Staff members “were listened to. That’s the best we can hope for at this time,” she said.
