Vandalia Health Grafton (W.Va.) Hospital will temporarily go on full diversion and shut down inpatient services Sept. 19 in order to undergo planned electrical system upgrades, The Mountain Statesman reported.
The emergency department will remain open for walk-in patients only, and patients requiring a higher level of care will be transferred. The diversion is expected to last about six to nine hours.
The scheduled upgrade involves replacing the hospital’s Automatic Transfer Switch, a critical component that transfers the hospital’s electrical load to its backup generator during outages, and back to the regular power supply once grid power is restored. It requires a full electrical shutdown to upgrade.
“This electrical system upgrade and ATS replacement is a critical step in maintaining the long-term reliability and safety of our electrical infrastructure,” Melissa Lockwood, chief administrative officer, told the Statesman.
