By Patrick Adrian
Staff Writer
UNITY — A heating pipe failure on Thursday morning at the Sullivan County nursing home flooded two resident rooms and a building stairwell with high-temperature water, causing disruption to daily operations and highlighting the county’s concerns about the building’s aging and deteriorating plumbing system.
Around 5 a.m., overnight staff found a fair amount of water on the third floor of the Stearns, one of three buildings that comprise the county residential complex, according to Mary Bourque, county facilities director. About a half-inch of water accumulated in two residential rooms and staff found a substantial amount of water that entered the north-end stairwell and poured down to the ground floor.
The source of the break was a corroded heating pipe, according to Bourque. As a result, the water, which was heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit at its source, was dangerously hot. Residents were instructed to remain in their rooms until the system was shut down and the water was removed.
“You have to be pretty careful when handling that situation,” Bourque told The Eagle Times.
While the issue was contained and cleaned up within three hours, the latest incident illustrates the deeper dilemma currently under debate by the county delegates: whether to support a proposed renovation project of approximately $54 million to upgrade the complex’s aging and deteriorating infrastructure or risk costlier consequences through further deferment.
The multi-million dollar question
The county’s $54 million proposal would, in addition to upgrading the complex’s aging heating, plumbing and electrical systems, replace the 90-year-old Sanders building —the oldest building in the complex — with a modern and energy-efficient building that complies with present day federal standards for assisted living facilities.
According to county officials, the construction involved to replace the nursing home’s pipes and wiring would be so extensive it would trigger the federal requirements to comply with current standards. These standards include requirements that every bed have a window and rooms have a resident-to-bathroom ratio of 2:1.
Many rooms in Stearns have four residents sharing a bathroom and only some beds have windows. Stearns also suffers from an overall lack of common space for families to visit with residents, county officials say.
Meanwhile the 13 county delegates are at a standstill over whether to approve a bond to fund the project. A narrow minority of delegates, all Republican legislators, have proposed amending the bonded amount to $35 million on the belief there will eventually be additional funds available through the proposed federal infrastructure bill. The remaining delegates, all Democratic legislators, have expressed reluctance to approve any bond at this time due to apprehension about the project’s tax impact amid a contentious state budget cycle and economic uncertainties.
The delegation have been in recess since Monday, April 26, after the sides were unable to bring the question to a vote due to a procedural block.
Meanwhile the nursing home’s pipes continue to age
Bourque said that pipe leaks and failures have become a “typical” occurrence in the Stearns building. Though the latest incident, because of its encroachment into bedrooms, has affected the residents the most of any in Bourque’s four years as facilities director.
Thursday’s incident also had more impact because it occurred during the overnight shift when maintenance staff were not present to immediately shut the system.
According to Bourque, the overnight staff, following the facility’s emergency plan, immediately notified the on-call staff and made a non-emergency call to the Unity Fire Department. Facility maintenance staff was on site by 5:25 p.m. to shut off the valves and had cleaned up the water by 8:30 p.m.
The water also set off a fire-pull alarm, which brought the Unity Fire Department a second time.
“We should send them a thank you,” recommended County Commissioner Ben Nelson.
Despite the disruption to operations and the residents, the event positively demonstrated the staff’s ability to come together to handle the temporary crisis, Bourque said.
“I got a lot of positive feedback that people felt really good about the response in general,” Bourque told the commissioners on Monday. “[They said] it really felt like the whole building was working as a team. Those are the types of things that you like to see, that we all get caught up in our day to day issues but when the situation comes everyone responds. It was a nice morale booster.”
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