Toilet overflows, floods Carmel dialysis centerBy TERENCE CORCORAN AND BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
February 8, 2007
CARMEL - A clogged toilet overflowed yesterday in the Barns Medical Center on Stoneleigh Avenue, sending water cascading down into the Celia Dill Dialysis Center one floor below, where patients were hooked up to dialysis machines, a fire official said.
The Carmel Fire Department responded around 9:30 a.m. to the Barns, at 667 Stoneleigh Ave., across from Putnam Hospital Center.
Fire Chief Daryl Johnson said that about 30 people in the dialysis unit, including several patients, were escorted into another room.
"Arrangements were made for patients to go home or to another dialysis center," he said.
The toilet was clogged and the flap in the tank open, which resulted in the tank overflowing onto the floor and into the offices one story below.
Johnson said some water got into the electrical system, forcing power to be shut off and the dialysis center closed. Firefighters remained on the scene for about two hours.
Johnson said an electrician would have to repair the damage, and that the work would have to be cleared by an electrical inspector and the building checked before it could open. The town's building inspector Michael Carnazza was on the scene.
The dialysis center, which has 12 dialysis stations shifted some patients to its facility in Cortlandt, the Peekskill-Cortlandt Dialysis Center, which has 19 dialysis stations. The center is at 2050 East Main St.
"Patients came on their own. Fortunately, we had some empty chairs and were able to help," said Iasha Osman, the charge nurse in Cortlandt. She said administrators were trying to arrange transportation service from the Carmel location for patients.
Lyda Rojas of Carmel, a dialysis patient for the last five years, was mostly concerned about transportation, although by early evening yesterday it appeared that the Carmel location would be open today.
Rojas, who lives a mile from the Stoneleigh Avenue center, would have traveled if she had to, she said.
"I'm not annoyed because I have to have dialysis. I can't miss it," said Rojas, 75. "Even if I have to go to the city, I'll go."
Dialysis machines provide renal functions for patients who have kidney failure. Patients often have to receive the treatment two or more times a week for several hours at a time.
Dr. Andrew Gutterman, a dermatologist at the Barns, also had water damage in his office, but it was much less severe. Staff sopped up water with towels and asked patients to enter the waiting room through the business office.
Reach Terry Corcoran at tcorcora@lohud.com
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS04/702080356
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