Windsor Regional Hospital's cardiac cath lab resumes operations following floods
Lab flooded twice this month due to heavy rains
Windsor Regional Hospital's cardiac catheterization lab is back online after facing flooding twice this month.
The lab has been closed since July 16, due to flooding from heavy rainfall. It reopened as scheduled on Monday despite another downpour on Saturday night.
WRH CEO David Musyj said the hospital was "aggressively" advocating to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term care to move the lab, which is in the basement of the Ouellette Campus, to another floor.
He said the hospital is trying to address ongoing infrastructure issues as planning continues on a new facility.
Cardiac catheterization — used in heart attack cases as well as for outpatient procedures — involves inserting a small tube into a vein or artery. While the lab was closed, the hospital said it would be sending patients to London, Ont., and Detroit.
Saturday's rainfall resulted in flooding at both the Metropolitan and Ouellette campuses.
In a news release Sunday, the hospital said that after the downpour, the emergency department entrance, some procedure rooms, the front lobby, the ground level of the cancer centre, shipping and receiving, and the kitchen and hallways in the diagnostic imaging area of the Met Campus have flooded.
The flooding in the diagnostic imaging area is still being reviewed, though Musyj said the impact to patients should be minimal.