INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The portable, rented A/C units at the Indian River Medical Center were all turned off Wednesday morning and the hospital’s water-chilled A/C system was going full blast.
The hospital’s staff, patients and visitors have been without air conditioning since Saturday, after a pipe carrying water to the in-house A/C system broke, bringing down the entire hospital A/C system.
Ambulances that had been taking patients away from the hospital ER were bringing patients to the ER and most normal operations were back in place.
As of Tuesday night, only 64 patients were still in the 245-bed hospital. But that number is expected to increase over the next few days.
Air quality tests are beginning to determine what level of disinfecting will be necessary.