INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Tuesday afternoon, Indian River Medical Center was still relying on rented, portable Carrier units to bring the temperatures down in the hospital, after the water chilled AC system broke on Saturday.
The hope was that the water-chilled system, installed under the hospital in the late 70s, would soon be cooling enough to replace the rental units, which weigh between one and 30 tons. Hospital communications director Lewis Clark reported Tuesday afternoon that the water-chilled system was working at 100 percent.
But the water-chilled system was not cooling down the hospital enough to replace the rental units, as of Tuesday afternoon.
Hospital employees, who work on the third and fourth floors of the hospital, said the units were cooling the hallways but not working as well in patient rooms because the cool air could not get through the limited door space.
Still, they said, temperatures were definitely improving in the common spaces and, slightly, in the rooms.
The fifth floor of the hospital, said employees, had been entirely evacuated because of extreme heat.
Meanwhile, the hospital lobby — an open space — was cool by Tuesday afternoon and temperatures in the Emergency Department had dropped from the mid 80s to the high 70s.
Fans were still in use to augment the portable units.
The rented portable system, however, was not fixing the heat problem with using CT Scans and MRI machines at noon, and paramedics were still transferring patients to other locations for testing Tuesday afternoon.
Clark said indoor air quality testing would begin soon, and if up to standards, disinfecting would begin after.