It’s Time for St. ’s Hospital to seek new leadership

[Guest guest]

It’s Time for St. ’s Hospital to seek new leadership

Environmental consultant calls for Murray’s resignation

~ By KEVIN RILEY ~

t. ’s Hospital has not only put the “cart before the horse,†they

have

put their own stubborn and misguided time table for the closure of the

Hospital before our own communities’ safety. St. ’s president T.

Murray has spent a tremendous amount of Ventura County\'s money, time and

efforts

to set a time table for an unproven, controversial remediation process

without the necessary registrations and/or state government’s approvals.

Setting in

place specific hospital closure dates, coordinating with our neighboring

hospitals, meeting with health, safety and ambulatory services and transferring

patients to other facilities without having in place the necessary state

approvals is proof he is incapable of making sound decisions.

Murray continues to claim that testing within the hospital has not detected

levels of contamination which would place anyone within risk. However, Murray’

s own expert, Mission Viejo toxicologist Harry Skalsky, who was hired by the

hospital to assess the fungal contamination, testified last fall that he

found potentially harmful levels of Stachybotrys spores. The presence of these

spores \ " may lead to or exacerbate allergic reactions and/or cause toxic

effects or infections,\ " Skalsky wrote in a court declaration. The staff at St.

’s and patients treated during this time should demand the laboratory

results and any other data pertinent to their possible exposure.

When Murray says \ " The hospital has an obligation to fix the problem

and it would be irresponsible to leave this alone,†I couldn\'t agree more.

St. \'s indeed has an obligation to fix the problem, not avoid or defer

it. Murray says that fixing the “problem†the correct way would be cost

prohibitive, time consuming and cause a considerable loss of beds and use of

the

facility. Murray\'s continued insistence on Sabre\'s Technologies use of CLO2

to fumigate the hospital has reached the point where it calls to question

Murray’s ability to lead this hospital through this troubled time.

Why would Murray continue to advocate for the process of CLO2 fumigation

while experts throughout the Indoor Air Quality Industry passionately disagree

with its self- claimed successes? Sabre Technologies has submitted to the

California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) a request for special use

(24C filing) for fumigating St. ’s Hospital. Their plan is to introduce

CLO2

gas into the hospital at levels between 60-100 PPM, (parts per million) for

a period of 12 hours. A recent 2005 Texas Tech University research document,

forwarded by my office to the CDPR, confirms that even at tested levels of

500 PPM and 1,000 PPM, Stachybotrys spores remained toxic.

Fixing the building envelope and solving the continued moisture issues at the

hospital are not elective. You cannot remediate any mold issues until the

moisture issues have been identified and corrected. Murray’s previous

statements that, \ " the hospital would work on solving these concerns over the

next

year prior to mold being able to take hold,†is absolutely ludicrous.

Industry

professionals agree mold contamination following moisture intrusion begins

within 48-72 hours.

According to a recent article by the Los Angeles Times, In 1996, Catholic

Healthcare West, which owns St. \'s, sued the general contractor, Centex

Rodgers, alleging that shoddy construction allowed water to seep into the

building\'s interior and led to mold infestation.

In 2003, St. \'s filed a second lawsuit against the contractor and

several other firms after repairs failed to solve the problem. If Sabre

Technologies fumigates this hospital as planned, without first solving the

moisture

issues, they better have in place a “Hold Harmless Agreement,†or they

should

be prepared to be an integral part of the next wave of litigation.

More importantly than the questioned efficacy of the proposed fumigation is

the safety concerns related to the presence of a chlorine tank in our

community. The safety personnel in our communities should review documents

involving

a chlorine tank explosion. These documents can be obtained from the Homeland

Security Planning Scenarios and a Hospital Incident Command System, each

documenting the attendant procedures necessary to protect our community.

Although St. ’s Hospital and Sabre Technologies continue to contend that

the fumigation process is safe, the Homeland Security Department contradicts

those claims. These important documents outline the possible casualties,

infrastructure damage, evacuations, economic impact, potential for multiple

events and the recovery time necessary for our community to recover.

Murray has an obligation to protect the patients and the staff of St. ’s

Hospital, the community he serves, and to make informed decisions for

Catholic Health Care West.

This has been, by Murray\'s own account, an ongoing 14-year battle at this

hospital. If Murray continues to lead this hospital into the unsafe, unproven,

proposed use of CLO2 fumigation to \ " solve St. ’s Hospital’s mold

issues,

†Catholic Healthcare West and our community should demand his resignation.

Riley is the President of Environmental Testing Associates, Inc. He can

be reached via email at kriley@...

Editor’s Note: St. ’s Hospital declined an opportunity to respond in

this week’s edition of the VC Reporter to this essay.

08-16-2007

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