RENFREW COUNTY (Pembroke) — As part of a planned project to upgrade electrical equipment, a 24-hour electrical shut down will take place in phases at the Pembroke Regional Hospital from 6:00 p.m. October 28 until 6:00 p.m. October 29.
In order to maintain services and ensure patient safety during this timeframe, staff have been meeting regularly to plan and prepare for this event which will affect various aspects of power throughout all four of the hospital’s towers at different times over the 24-hour period.
Some of the preparation work includes bringing in additional battery-operated lighting, ensuring enough water is on site and available to all areas for periods where water access will be limited, bringing in extra blankets for added warmth and making contingency plans where certain services or equipment may be affected by lack of power.
“Our team has been working closely with the contractor to ensure this project is done in a way that has minimal disruption on our patients and services,” said PRH President and CEO Pierre Noel, adding that this has included scheduling certain aspects of the shutdown for times when some of the services wouldn’t be impacted.
For visitors, a few timeframes are important to note. From 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on October 28, all elevators be offline meaning only the stairs will be available to access all floors of the building. During this time as well, the stairs in Tower A will have no power but they will be safely lit by battery-operated lanterns.
Additionally from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on October 29, all parking lot lights will be off.
For the entire 24-hours of the scheduled electrical shutdown, Mr. Noel said that the hospital will have it’s emergency management command centre set up in order to be able to closely monitor everything that is impacted and be able to address any unforeseen issues in a timely and coordinated manner.
