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Ruby water outage to start at midnight, May 15, and carry into early Monday morning

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At midnight on Sunday, May 15, the Facilities Engineering department will be required to shut off domestic water in Ruby Memorial Hospital for five hours, carrying over into Monday morning.

The outage will affect the main hospital building and will not include the northeast tower, Physician Office Center (POC), Eye Institute or Chestnut Ridge Center.

The following patient floor procedures were developed during a preliminary meeting with nursing and house supervisors:

Preparing for the outage on patient floors, Sunday evening:

  • final patient toilet activity should occur between 11 p.m. and midnight
  • patient ice and water basins should be re-filled before midnight
  • fill extra pitchers of water, and install a pink basin in the kitchenette sink bowl with water
  • have sanitary wipes available
  • use bedside toilets for patients
  • empty patient drain lines and Foleys in the hoppers and flush before midnight
  • order gallon jugs of water from Materials Management for hand-washing, patient cleaning
  • if hot water is required for patient cleaning, use a pink basin, water from gallon jugs, and heat in microwave
  • for patient surgeries scheduled for Monday morning, have patient showers complete before midnight
  • Central Processing activities must be complete before midnight

Staff restroom options:

  • N/E tower restrooms
  • POC level 1 and level 4 restrooms
  • Level 3 tunnel to HSC

Facilities Engineering will have dumpsters with plastic liners filled with water and placed on patient floors. One gallon buckets can be filled and used to flush toilets if a toilet is used in your area.

What to expect when water is back in service:

  • Facilities Engineering will flush the main lines to eliminate dirt and deposits
  • floors may see a discoloration in water; allow the water to flow and flush the lines
  • toilets may collect deposits and overflow; call 74107 immediately if this occurs
  • faucets may collect air; turn the faucet handles on very slowly

Pre-planning is key to the success of this outage.