Officials at the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, have announced some additional work is schedule to occur in the new Inpatient Services area of the hospital.  According to Pat Markham, CEO, the zero entry showers in the Medical/Surgical and Intensive Care patient rooms are not containing water as intended.  Markham says they became aware of the problem immediately upon occupying their new patient rooms last summer. She says ” Since that time we have been working with the design firm to arrive at an agreeable resolution to the problem, while utilizing temporary measures to prevent falls,” and they are “Now going to proceed with the necessary changes to eliminate this safety risk.”

Markham says the process will, at times, be quite loud and potentially disruptive to patients.  Four patient rooms at a time will be taken out of service – two for repair work, and one on each side to help buffer construction noise.   Additional steps will be taken to reduce the noise for patients, including providing noise-reducing headphones and ear plugs. Markham said they apologize for the inconvenience, “But in the interest of patient and staff safety,” they have to move forward with correcting the situation.

Hospital officials continue to negotiate with the design firm to determine financial liability for the corrective measures.  Work will begin Monday, March 18, 2013 and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2013.