The Valley Hospital

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 5, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

Prior to an incident this week that sickened six employees, federal inspectors tested the air at The Valley Hospital twice in recent years after worker complaints about fumes. Each time they found that the gases they tested for were within acceptable limits.
Efraim Zoldan, area director for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said samples taken from the hospital in August 1988 and August 1989, after complaints by employees, found the levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the hospital met acceptable federal guidelines for the workplace.
The hospital’s operating-room staff was reassigned and all non-emergency operations were suspended Thursday after six employees were treated for illness from an odor. Two operating rooms for emergency surgery remain open.
Workers in the hospital’s operating rooms became ill from fumes on occasion in recent years, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.
Ilene Lumpkin, who had said Thursday that no illnesses were reported in past incidents, acknowledged Friday that there were illnesses reported.
“Occasionally one or two employees have gone to the emergency room after they had become sick,” Lumpkin said.
She said she did not know over what period of time the fumes were detected, how many times, or how many employees became sick from inhaling fumes.
Lumpkin said steps were taken to alleviate the condition after the 1988 and 1989 OSHA inspections, but said she did not know what the steps were.
A spokeswoman for OSHA said Thursday that the agency would not investigate the latest incident because the employees were treated and released, not hospitalized.
The hospital this week hired Atlantic Environmental Inc. of Dover and Chet Vogel, an engineer from New York City, to test the air and review the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system in the north wing, where the operating room is located. Results are expected early next week.
Lumpkin said the hospital will also install an air-monitoring system to test the air over time to see if the problem continues.

Keywords: RIDGEWOOD; HOSPITAL; HEALTH; HAZARD; TEST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, January 4, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

The Valley Hospital operating-room staff was reassigned and all non-emergency operations were suspended Thursday after six employees were treated for illness from an unknown odor, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The employees, including nurses and technicians, smelled the odor while they were in a lounge for the operating-room staff, said Eileen Lumpkin, director of marketing and public relations for the Ridgewood hospital.
Lumpkin declined to identify the employees who became ill, but said they suffered headaches, itchy eyes, and nausea.
About 50 patients will be rescheduled because of the suspension of non-emergency operations, she said. The suspensions will remain in effect today to allow for analysis of the air in the area and inspection of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, Lumpkin said.
Two of the hospital’s six operating rooms will continue to be used for emergency operations, she said.
Lumpkin said workers in areas adjacent to the operating rooms, which are served by the same heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, were told of the problem, but no illness was reported in those areas.
Some employees complained Wednesday about fumes in the lounge, but the smell became “dominant” Thursday, she said, adding that fumes were noticed in the past but they weren’t strong enough to cause sickness.
Lumpkin said Michael W. Azzara, president of Valley Hospital, met with the hospital staff Thursday morning to assure them that the hospital is doing all it can to find the source of the fumes.
Richard Van Hassle, hospital vice president, said: “We don’t know what it was, and that is what we are trying to find out. What we have done is called in this environmental company to test the air and a professional engineer to review the air-handling equipment to determine the cause of the problem. “
Atlantic Environmental Inc. of Dover and Chet Vogel, an engineer from New York City, were hired by the hospital to do the work, Lumpkin said.
The hospital also is investigating whether the fumes came from trucks at a construction site near the operating rooms, she said.
Lisa Levy, industrial-hygiene supervisor for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the agency was notified of the incident but did not investigate because the employees were treated and released.

Keywords: RIDGEWOOD; HOSPITAL; EMPLOYMENT; HEALTH; PROBE; AIR

Tag: The Valley Hospital

PRIOR TESTS AT HOSPITAL FOUND AIR OK

HOSPITAL WORKERS ILL FROM FUMES; OPERATING ROOMS TEMPORARILY SHUT