The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
ER refurbished, put back on track
MIDDLETOWN — Less than 10 days after a city man intentionally crashed his car into the Middlesex Hospital emergency room, causing himself — and his sedan — to burst into flames, the facility will reopen after construction that repaired more than $550,000 worth of damage.
Steven Ellam, 27, died from his injuries early Friday morning after spending more than a week in critical condition at the Bridgeport Hospital burn unit. Police say he doused himself in a flammable liquid and set himself on fire after ramming into the building Feb 22.
Ellam taped himself driving to the hospital on his phone, live streaming it on Facebook. His sedan smashed through the emergency room doors and entered the vestibule, where it came to a rest. It did not reach the hospital interior.
The fire was contained to the lobby, however the entire ER was affected, hospital staff said during a news conference Friday afternoon in the newly repaired facility.
Water and smoke damaged about 90 percent of the area’s walls.
The emergency department will reopen to both walk-in and ambulance patients this morning.
“We’re looking forward to getting back into our space, into our home, and bringing back a service to community that we take care of,” Dr. Jonathan Bankoff, chairman of emergency medicine, said of the nine-year-old facility.
“Other than having to go on diversion with ambulances, I don’t think we missed a beat, which is amazing,” said President and CEO Vincent G. Capece Jr. “The way staff pulled together in the aftermath of the crash — in a way that words can’t describe — is the silver lining.”
On a normal day, the department sees about 120 patients. During the temporary setup, staff cared for up to 70 people daily.
The area sustained a significant amount of water damage, said David Giuffrida, vice president of operations, due to the sprinkler system being set off by the smoke, firefighting efforts and fire suppression foam.
The entire 24,400-squarefoot department was covered in at least an inch of liquid, he said.“We had a massive job to clean up that water. We had to take and cut out all the sheet rock — from floor level to 28 inches above the floor — dry out and reinstall the sheet rock, tape, paint and get everything back in shape,” he said. “When drywall gets wet, it soaks up water very quickly. Within about 24 hours, it turns to mold. Mold was a significant concern.”
Construction workers used chemicals to treat the growth, he said. In all, Giuffrida said, it took 4,000 man hours of work, with more to go.
“We had an army of cleaning crews: double shifts for multiple days averaging about 40 workers per shift just for the cleaning effort,” he said.
Capece was out of town when the crash took place.
“It was nothing like it looks like now, and I’m amazed at
how they were able to pull this together,” he said Friday.
One of the biggest concerns “was to protect our entry points at the main hospital and several other locations,” something referred to as “hardening” the facility, Giuffrida said.
Bankoff said staff are feeling a sense of pride after the incident, which caused very little interruption in service.
“There’s also a little bit of anxiety,” he said. “I think of all of that’s expected and normal. Mostly they’re ready to get back in here and get back to normal.”
The hospital carries interruption insurance, Capece said.
“When you combine the cost of all the construction, as well as business interruption, all the supplies that were damaged, we’re probably in the $5 million range — perhaps even larger than that — we still don’t know,” he said. “We’re still looking at those numbers.”
The price for restoration effort alone was $550,000, he said. “We did not do anything to enhance it other than new carpeting,” he said.
Crews remediated the extensive smoke damage by scrubbing everything down and cleaning each HVAC system.
“From that perspective, this place is cleaner than it’s ever been and now we’re ready to go,” Capece said. “We really didn’t miss a beat in terms of
serving the community.”
“The amount of effort that went into the recovery was equal to the response,” said Jim Hite, director of Environmental Safety & Protective Services.
The hospital sees 100,000 emergency visits a year, on par with some of the largest hospitals in the state, officials said.
“One of the things that has happened throughout the state in response to this event is everyone has is put barriers up in front of their emergency rooms,” Capece said. “I think we’ve all learned something.”
On average, 30 to 35 ambulances visit the facility daily, many of which have go to Middlesex’s sister hospitals in Marlborough and Westbrook. Other medical care centers throughout Connecticut “have taken an extra burden,” Bankoff said.
“Business doesn’t stop for emergency facilities — even when the facility doesn’t have a front door.”
The normal ER will open at 8 a.m. today for walk-in patients. The hospital will begin accepting ambulances again at 10 a.m.
Security will be present around the clock and the ER lobby will remain closed until further notice.