Hospital shuts down to kill mold St. ’s still needs pesticide permit

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Hospital shuts down to kill mold

St. 's still needs pesticide permit

Ventura County Reporter - Ventura,CA

08-09-2007

~ By BILL LASCHER ~

http://www.vcreporter.com/article.php?id=5011 & IssueNum=136

Only days before it was to begin scaling back operations, St. 's

Regional Medical Center in Oxnard got the approval it needed from

state public health officials to close for a controversial mold

remediation, but the 265-bed hospital still needs a go ahead from

another regulatory body before it can use chlorine dioxide gas to

eliminate a problem that has existed since the center opened in

1992.

Through its licensing and certification division, The California

Department of Public Health sent a letter Aug. 7 to St. 's

President T. Murray approving the closure in phases that

began Aug. 8. The hospital must comply with plans submitted to the

department or get further approvals.

However, the closure schedule puts state regulators in charge of

approving the process that will be used to fumigate the hospital up

against a wall.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) must still

give its okay to St. 's plans to contract with Sabre

Technologies, a New York State-based company, to use chlorine

dioxide gas to kill mold throughout the hospital. The hospital did

not request a required approval, called a 24© filing, from the DPR

to use the gas early enough to allow a full public comment period,

DPR spokesman Glen Brank said.

St. 's responded to phone calls placed Aug. 7 with copies of a

letter explaining the closure schedule. No comment was made about

the 24© application.

Normally, the DPR requires a 30-day public comment period after it

receives a completed 24© application. But the three-day fumigation

requires the hospital to begin a massive logistical effort to

coordinate with other hospitals in Ventura County as it gradually

shuts down its services. In order to keep on schedule, the hospital

went forward with the plan although it did not know whether or not

it would have the approval for the gas. Because of the tight

deadline set by the hospital, Brank said, his department decided to

start the public comment period concurrently with the application

process.

" This artificial deadline set by the hospital is problematic, " Brank

said. Although he said there is no specific legal provision for

public comments on 24© filings, he said it was " very reasonable "

for the DPR to take them into consideration as it reviews the public

health and safety concerns addressed in the filing. The public

comment period, he said, makes it " very difficult, if not

impossible " for the DPR to allow the fumigation to start on Aug. 17.

Brank said that comments are arriving on a daily basis. Not all of

them have yet been processed, but as of Aug. 8, they overwhelmingly

express concern over two requirements for a 24© approval: that the

process in question addresses an emergency with no proven

alternative solution, and that written proof such as efficacy

studies, safety data and documented results are submitted supporting

the process to be used. Commenters are questioning whether or not an

emergency exists, and how thoroughly St. 's and Sabre have

evaluated the effectiveness of chlorine dioxide gas as a fumigant.

Elective surgery has already stopped at the hospital, and the

emergency room was scheduled to close Aug. 8, after this article

went to press. Labor and Delivery services were set to close Aug.

10, and the Main Hospital is scheduled to close Aug. 14.

To see copies of selected public comments, information about

chlorine dioxide gas, and other information about the fumigation and

the closure of St. 's hospital visit Bill Lascher's new blog Fir

and Main at www.vcreporter.com/bblog