The hospital confirmed the issue in a statement shared with Becker’s and said team members immediately acted to ensure affected patients were safely moved into unaffected areas of the facility. Some patients were also transferred to neighboring Hackensack Meridian Health facilities.
“Fortunately, our teams were able to restore air conditioning capabilities to our emergency department and ICU,” Riverview Medical said.
Although some areas of the facility remained offline July 20, the hospital estimated that service will be fully restored by the afternoon of July 21.
The air-conditioning issue at Riverview Medical comes as states across the country are facing extreme heat. As of July 20, heat warnings and advisories were issued affecting 28 states, according to the National Weather Service.
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