So, what’s wrong with our hospitals?

❚ Rockyview in Calgary, water is entering the isolation space between two concrete slabs above the operating rooms, and wallboards behind the counters in the neonatal intensive care unit are moist and thereby not conforming to infection control standards. In addition, the pistons on parkade elevators are leaking oil, the dumbwaiters that serve surgical areas suffer frequent breakdowns, critical areas of the hospital lack a backup air handling unit, and isolation rooms need a filter to ensure contaminated air is not being released outside.

❚ Spirit River, the hospital is built in a low-lying area with a high water table, so floors are suffering damage due to water seepage from underneath the concrete base.

❚ Cold Lake, the fire suppression system in the electrical room in not operational, lighting in the operating room must be upgraded, and the exterior lighting at entrances is insufficient, making people feel unsafe. As well, the obsolete fire alarm system is producing frequent false alarms.

❚ Fox Creek, all three humidifiers have been out of service for years, and the emergency generator sometimes fails to start because the generator room is unheated.

❚ Hinton, vibrations easily and frequently trip the main electrical breaker and disconnect power to the hospital.

❚ Bow Island, drains are frequently plugged, and sewer lines are starting to fail.

❚ Cardston, there is ongoing heat loss through exterior walls, the flooring is unsightly and difficult to keep clean, the elevators need to be modernized and have their hydraulic rams replaced to avoid failing. As well, water lines freeze and rupture in winter because of their placement inside the exterior walls, and the original building has poor air conditioning and ventilation.

❚ Lethbridge, regrading of the exterior and installation of weeping tile is needed to stop substantial leaking through the foundation walls at several locations. As well, the poor layout of psychiatric day treatment area means staff at the reception desk have only one means of escape when confronted by aggressive patient.

❚ Medicine Hat, there are malfunctioning automatic doors into surgical suites, the MRI area is subject to overheating due to problems with inoperative chillers in winter, the obsolete nurse call system can’t provide code blue coverage, the facility lacks a central uninterruptible power supply system, and there are outdated transfer switches for the emergency power system.

❚ Taber, the hospital is built in an area with a high water table that has resulted in foundation movement and drainage difficulties.

❚ Bonnyville, the fire alarm system is obsolete and causes many false alarms, the inoperative nurse call system requires patients to use hand bells, the wireless panic alarm system for staff doesn’t work, and the inoperative patient wandering alarm system allows long-term care patients to wander into hospital area.

❚ Brooks, some surgeries and procedures were postponed in June 2014 after pieces of concrete fell through the ceiling near the surgical processing department.

Note: These issues were identified in Alberta Infrastructure reports from 2008 through 2014. Some of the problems might have been resolved by now; however, the government does not update the reports with that information.