Wahiawa (Hawaii) General Hospital shut down inpatient operations for multiple days due to a broken air conditioning system, KITV News reported Feb. 5.
The 66-bed acute care facility discharged more than half a dozen patients and transferred eight others the week of Feb. 2, to different locations after assessing the equipment and thinking initially it would be a multiple week-long issue. After that assessment, the hospital "made the decision out of an abundance of care for our patients and our staff that we needed to call an internal disaster," Brian Cunningham, CEO of Wahiawa General Hospital told KITV.
However, the issue has since been resolved.
The hospital is housed in a facility that is more than 80 years old, and its aging infrastructure is partially to blame.
"At times there may not be sufficient cash or money coming in to invest in infrastructure. And that's a real challenge because hospitals are such a critical component of the healthcare delivery system," said Hilton Raethel, head of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, told KITV regarding the incident.
The hospital is slated to be acquired April 2 by Queen's Health System.
Becker's reached out to Wahiawa General Hospital and will update the story if additional information is provided.