Terrified patients evacuated from Chicago hospital after getting stuck in 'oven-like' conditions
Patients were rushed out of a Chicago hospital after being trapped in suffocating 'oven-like' conditions when the building's cooling system suddenly failed.
Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood was forced to evacuate all of its inpatients after a 'catastrophic loss' of its air-conditioning infrastructure.
Hospital management said the breakdown was the result of years of poor maintenance by previous owners.
Sixty patients in total were evacuated, and none remained at the hospital as of late Tuesday night, ABC7 reported.
Temperatures in Chicago were expected to soar throughout the weekend and full repairs could take several days.
'Weiss Memorial Hospital has experienced a catastrophic loss of its air conditioning system,' the hospital said in a statement.
'A team of mechanics are working diligently to restore the systems which is estimated to take several days given that the aging infrastructure had not been properly maintained by its previous owners.'
One discharged patient, Steven Acosta, told ABC7 that the conditions were like 'an oven.'
'To be honest, it's like an oven. The only thing is, they got a machine like this for air, but it's for the hallways only,' Acosta explained.
'But inside the rooms? No air. Just wind blowing out of the vent.'
Hospital staff said that once repairs are finished, the facility will need to reach a certain temperature before it can safely reopen its inpatient services.
'Once the repairs are completed the hospital will need to be cooled to a comfortable temperature before being allowed to resume operations,' the hospital said.
The emergency room will stay open to walk-in patients, but ambulances are being diverted elsewhere.
Most patients will be transferred to a sister hospital, but outpatient areas will remain open.
'In the interest of patient safety, we have transferred most of our valued patients to our sister hospital West Suburban Medical Center and have tapped other area hospitals to assist,' Weiss Memorial added.
'The outpatient areas and its supporting areas will remain open as those areas are not impacted.
One discharged patient, Steven Acosta, told ABC7 that the conditions were like 'an oven'
'Our Emergency Room is re-directing ambulances but remains open for walk-in patients.
If any of these patients need admission, they will be stabilized and transferred to another facility.'
'We are all working to resolve this matter. Inconvenience to everyone is deeply regretted.
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