Milton Hospital - Busted sprinkler head brought on crisis

By L.E. CAMPENELLA
The Patriot Ledger

MILTON - All it took was a broken sprinkler head to knock out much of Milton Hospital’s power, heat and telephone lines.

Patients, nurses and doctors were thrown into darkness at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday when a sprinkler-head pipe was broken by a worker moving equipment.

Because the hospital has backup generators, there wasn’t too much cause for worry initially. But as ear-splitting alarms sounded and the generators kicked in, the lights brightened, faded and went out.

And then the scramble began.

Hospital President Joseph Morrissey blamed the problem on the location of the main and auxiliary power panels. The panels are side by side in the area that was flooded.

‘‘When you look at it now, having both control panels in the same place isn’t a good idea,’’ Morrissey said. ‘‘They both short-circuited.’’

‘‘The lights went out, people paged me in panic, I was talking to the fire department ...,’’ said Philipa Breslin, a registered nurse who was supervising Saturday.

‘‘It was overwhelming at first,’’ Breslin said at a meeting of more than 30 nurses, doctors, and paramedics Monday.

The hospital personnel at the meeting talked about what went right and what could have been done better during the crisis. One man called the situation ‘‘controlled chaos.’’

Thirteen patients were transferred to other hospitals. One had been sedated for surgery and had to be awakened and transferred to Quincy Medical Center to undergo what was described as a minor procedure.

Milton Hospital has undergone a $38 million renovation that includes a 25,000-square-foot addition, a parking garage and an expanded emergency room.

Damage was limited to the radiology department and a sub-basement. The new areas of the hospital were not affected.

Officials said hospital personnel have been trained for such emergencies and last practiced a new plan five months ago.

‘‘There are some minor odds and ends that we have to work on, but, overall, we provided safe care and no negatives to our patients,’’ emergency department manager Colleen Foley said.

Power was lost in the hospital’s main lobby, radiology department, intensive care unit and emergency room.

Within an hour, seven patients from intensive care and six from the emergency room and operating suites were transferred to hospitals in Boston and on the South Shore.

Twenty-nine others were moved to the third floor because the heat was on there and electricians assured officials that power would be back by 11 a.m.

Milton’s fire department and the American Red Cross provided five generators that were used the power was back.

Ambulances were lined up at the hospital and the Milton fire headquarters in case patients needed to be transferred.

Briefings were held every 90 minutes to keep employees and patients informed.

The hospital’s backup generators were operating by 11 a.m. and were at full power by 6 p.m.

By 7, the hospital was ready for more patients.

Morrissey, the hospital president, called the regional response ‘‘fantastic.’’

The backup power systems were last tested, as required by law, last month, he said.

Deputy Fire Chief Brian Linehan, a member of the fire department for 24 years, said this was the first such Milton Hospital incident in which he had been involved.

The Brooks building, in which doctors have private-practice offices, has its own generator and did not lose its systems.

L.E. Campenella may be reached at lcampenella@ledger.com .

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, November 06, 2007