Temperatures inside a Chicago hospital reached 90 degrees after a week during which a failed air conditioning was not replaced or repaired. The hospital blamed the issue on an aging air conditioning system that was not maintained properly by the 73-year-old building’s previous owners, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. When the air conditioning was turned on for the first time this year, staff realized that three of the four chiller units were not working properly.
Weiss Memorial Hospital is a 234-bed acute care hospital in Chicago’s north side Uptown neighborhood which serves primarily geriatric patients who are already more susceptible to heat. The hospital's 45 patients were either discharged or moved to another hospital location.
According to Block Club Chicago, when administrators realized the air conditioning wasn’t working, they first tried to cool space with a combination of portable units and fans.
Repairs to the aging HVAC will take several weeks as the hospital has to wait for replacement parts to ship. The cost is expected to top $250,000. But the financial losses from not being able to accommodate patients for several weeks will be far greater.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
