The water flooded the key branch of Giżyck region Hospital, forcing an urgent evacuation of 5 patients from the ICU. The event took place on Friday morning and was a direct consequence of dense rainfall and carried out in the construction site. The water that gathered on the unsecured ceiling of the fresh level rising over ICU and SOR began to leak into the ground level rooms, posing a serious threat to the specialist medical equipment and patient safety. Emergency services and infirmary staff immediately took action, relocating the patients to another facilities in the region.
The water entered the ICU. What precisely happened?
The problem at the Gyżycki infirmary came out on Friday morning erstwhile dense rainfall led to a large amount of water gathering on the surface of the building ceiling. According to the services, the hospital's expansion work involves the construction of a fresh level straight over the key wards – ICU and the infirmary Rescue Branch (SOR). Unprotected from atmospheric conditions, the ceiling became a trap for rainwater.
Brig. Grzegorz Zubowicz of the Giżycki Fire Department explained in his interview with the media that the water began to soak through the ceiling, flooding the rooms on the ground floor. Although, as he stressed, there was no situation in which the ceiling fell or the walls broke, the flooding was so serious that it posed a real threat. He compared the situation to ‘water-water-bathing’, but pointed out that in the case of an object specified as a hospital, especially an intensive care unit, this is an absolutely unacceptable situation and requires immediate response.
Construction and rain – a dangerous combination
The main origin of the event is simply a combination of 2 factors: intense rainfall and ongoing construction work. The expansion of the hospital, although essential for the improvement of the facility, requires peculiar precautions, especially erstwhile the work is carried out on functioning branches. The safety of the construction from the rain, in peculiar the ceiling, which is to become a fresh floor, proved to be a critical mistake in planning or implementing the work.
Conducting construction work on branches specified as ICU or SOR is simply a logistical and method challenge. It requires precise timetable, continuous monitoring of advancement and strict compliance with safety procedures, including weather protection. An event in Giżyck shows how crucial it is to guarantee the tightness and protection of the building at all phase to avoid paralysis of infirmary work and hazard to patients.
Hazard to patients and medical equipment
The ICU is the place where patients are in the heaviest condition, frequently connected to advanced, specialized life support and monitoring life functions. Water and advanced humidity are a deadly threat to this kind of electronic equipment. The hazard of short circuit, failure or failure of the apparatus was the main reason for the decision to evacuate.
According to experts, failure of even 1 device in the ICU can have tragic consequences for a patient whose life depends on his continuous work. Therefore, despite the absence of a direct hazard of collapse, the presence of water in the ward was adequate reason for the immediate transfer of patients to a safe place. The safety and life of the sick in this situation were an absolute precedence for infirmary and emergency personnel.
In the face of the threat, it was decided to immediately evacuate 5 patients at that time in the ICU in Giżyck. The transfer of patients in critical condition is simply a complex logistics and medical operation requiring the engagement of qualified personnel and specialized medical transport.
Evacuated patients were transported to another hospitals in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, which have free seats in intensive care wards. Coordination of patient relocation between facilities in the region allowed them to supply further essential medical care without interruption. Rescue services, including the fire department, assisted infirmary staff in the safe conduct of this operation.
What about the infirmary and the construction?
The flooding of the ICU and evacuation of patients will surely affect the functioning of the Gyżycki infirmary and the agenda of construction work carried out. It will first request to remove water, dry rooms and carefully check the condition of medical equipment. Only after assessing the harm and ensuring full method and sanitary safety will the branch be able to resume operations.
This incidental besides asks questions about the supervision of the ongoing construction work and the safety procedures applied on the construction site located within an active hospital. The infirmary authorities and the construction authorities will gotta analyse the causes of the incident, implement additional safeguards and most likely adjust the work schedule. It is important, however, to guarantee that specified a situation does not happen again in the future, and that the safety of patients and staff will always be in the first place.
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Hospital in Giżyck flooded by construction and rain. Urgent evacuation of ICU patients.
