INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The air-conditioning system at Indian River Medical Center – a system that serves the Emergency Room, the Intensive Care Unit, and most of the hospital – was not working for a second day Sunday, and sweltering hospital employees were saying the system was not expected to be fixed before Monday.
Hospital spokesman Lewis Clark blamed a Saturday night break in the main water line that sends water to the chillers in the air conditioning system.
By Sunday morning, ambulances were being diverted from Indian River to emergency rooms at Sebastian River Medical Center in Sebastian and Lawnwood Medical Center in Ft. Pierce.
Patients arriving at the Indian River Emergency Room with symptoms of strokes or heart attacks were told to get back in their vehicles and go to another hospital.
Staff rushed to put fans in the Intensive Care Unit and Respiratory Unit, but all other patients were left to sweat it out in hospital rooms with sealed windows.
Indian River hospital officials are expected to give an update on the repair work at 6 a.m. Monday.
