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Flood at Amherst hospital delays dozens of surgical procedures

Flooding shut down parts of a hospital in Amherst, N.S., this weekend, postponing several procedures.

A hot water filter canister cracked and spilled water into the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre Sunday morning. Staff contained the flood near the operating suites on the second floor. The water also damaged the laboratory collection and ambulatory care departments on the first floor.

"We're very proud of all the staff that were working yesterday," said Norah Doucet, the Nova Scotia Health Authority's director for health services for Cumberland County. "They really pulled together, like they normally do. We've lost a lot of sneakers in the last few days."

No patients had to be moved, but all surgical and endoscopy cases for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were postponed.

41 delayed cases will be triaged

Doucet said 41 cases have been postponed and the hospital has been in touch with everyone. It will start rescheduling the procedures once the cleanup is complete.

The rescheduling is being triaged, so people dealing with things like cancer will go first. Doucet doesn't expect anyone to have too long a wait.

"We are hoping that come Thursday, we are up and running in the [operating rooms]," she said Monday afternoon. "Our three ORs are being cleaned or were already cleaned today."

They're now cleaning the other affected areas. Doucet said they were proud of the staff who swung into damage control Sunday. "We deployed all the housekeeping staff in the building and pharmacy staff, physicians, managers to help clean up and build dams."

That contained the water and the damage. The hospital has a cold water filter canister as well, and it will be replaced. The broken one was removed and replaced with piping.