The University of Vermont Medical Center has reopened two operating rooms at an outpatient surgery center in Colchester more than a year after the facility closed because of "air circulation" issues.
Thirteen patients were scheduled to have procedures in the two ORs at UVMC's Fanny Allen surgery center on Feb. 14. Small general surgery, ophthalmology, hand and foot orthopedics, and varicose vein procedures are being performed at the ASC, which will open its three additional ORs "as new staff members are recruited to work in the space and recently high hospital census numbers return to normal," the medical center said.
The ASC closed in November 2020 after employees reported symptoms including dizziness and nausea. Working with outside experts, the hospital determined that the building's filtration, ventilation, air conditioning and heating units were "outdated and did not allow for optimal airflow" in spaces where staff reported the symptoms.
Throughout 2021, UVMC worked on evaluating the root cause of the symptoms and added two new air handlers, upgraded and cleaned the facility's ductwork, and installed additional airflow systems. Updates were also made to the perioperative space.
UVMC also reopened a main campus OR that will focus on cardiothoracic, dental, gynecology, oncology, orthopedics, urology and plastic surgery. The move follows the Jan. 12 reopening of the main campus' inpatient rehab unit.
"Air quality events like these are often a combination of factors that compound on one another. That can make it difficult to identify one single cause," said Gary Scott, vice president of hospital services for UVMC. "When that happens, we make a list of everything we can think of that could contribute to the downstream issues we're seeing and then systematically address them all."
UVMC said no patients reported symptoms of nausea or dizziness during the events, and all staff who experienced symptoms were treated and recovered.