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07-14-03: Flood damage keeps medical
center closed |
By TIMOTHY COX
The Daily Standard
The Community Medical Center, 950 S. Main St., Celina, apparently will
not be reopening anytime soon.
Mercer County Community Hospital officials, who own the satellite
facility, are trying to assess the damage brought by the flooded Beaver Creek. An
emergency meeting of the hospital's board of governors is set for late this afternoon so
officials can decide how the mess will be dealt with. Specialists to assess
Construction and environmental specialists are at the site today trying
to figure out the extent of the damage and how best to repair the facility, hospital
public relations manager Ken Obringer said. The entire building was covered in at least
two to three inches of water, he said.
"All the carpet and equipment has been removed," Obringer
said. "Now they are looking into the walls."
Portions of at least some walls will need to be removed to ensure that
mold spores do not become a problem inside the walls, Obringer said. Removal of
contaminated wall boards needs to happen fairly soon, too, in order to keep any spores
from spreading, he said.
Some of the equipment in the building was owned by the hospital while
other pieces belong to the doctors and other healthcare professionals who work there,
Obringer said. It remains undetermined whether any of the equipment can be salvaged.
The building, which was constructed in the mid-1980s and renovated just
a few years ago, was not covered by flood insurance, Obringer said. No damage estimate has
been offered yet, he said.
Board members are expected to discuss how the situation should be
remedied and also will discuss what to do with the doctors offices displaced by the flood.
Hospital officials are interested in setting up some sort of temporary quarters to allow
those medical services to continue, Obringer said. Other business damage
The low-lying area just west of the lake's levee was especially hard
hit by the Independence Day flooding. In addition to the medical center, Bob's Audio,
Video & Appliances and the Breakaway RecPlex suffered serious damages. Bob's already
has reopened, and Breakaway management has said they do not know the full extent of the
damages to that complex or when the fitness facility might reopen. |
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