Bellingham hospital postpones most surgeries due to water issue impacting sterilization
St. Joseph hospital in Whatcom County began postponing most surgeries on Wednesday, Sept. 2, due to what a PeaceHealth statement to The Bellingham Herald called “a water chemistry imbalance” that is impacting sterilization.
All surgeries have been postponed except for patients who require immediate, emergent surgery and cannot be transferred to another facility without facing a higher risk, PeaceHealth spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald in a follow-up email.
“We understand and appreciate the profound impact this situation has on our community, and most immediately, our patients and their families, however, we always act out of an abundance of caution to preserve our utmost commitment to patient safety,” PeaceHealth’s Northwest Chief Nurse Officer Roseanna Bell said in the hospital statement.
The water chemistry imbalance affects equipment that is necessary to support the hospital’s operating rooms, the statement said, and in particular sterilization for operations.
The issue is on-site, as the water used is separate from water used by residents in Bellingham, Mayhew reported, adding that a national water chemistry expert has been hired to perform tests and determine the nature of the problem.
A timeline is not yet known for how long it will take to correct the problem, according to Mayhew, but internal and external experts are working “around-the-clock” to analyze and correct the problem.
The hospital’s Emergency Department remains open for all patients during the closure, according to the statement, and transfers will be made when appropriate and necessary.
“Our high standards for sterilization are designed to prevent infection and help ensure the safest care,” Bell said in the statement. “We are giving our full attention to resolving this problem as quickly as possible and return our operating rooms to full capacity. Simultaneously, we are evaluating a variety of back-up plans and longer-term strategies to help minimize future disruptions.”
The hospital intermittently has had to postpone surgeries the past few weeks because of the same issue, Mayhew told The Herald, but she reported that most scheduled surgeries during that time have been performed.
The hospital’s infection prevention experts have monitored the situation “every step of the way,” Mayhew reported, and they determined that no surgical cases have been performed with equipment affected by the water chemistry issue.
“We have a very rigorous quality-check process in the operating room, and in the various processes leading up to the operating room, to identify any instrumentation or equipment that may be compromised,” Mayhew wrote.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 7:45 AM.
