Operations at Weyburn General Hospital in Saskatchewan have resumed operations, following an evacuation due to a strong chemical odor that was observed on Friday.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 12, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) issued a media release saying all patients, 22 in total, were evacuated to local care homes. Staff were also evacuated, and EMS was on standby support for patients. Operations remained disturbed until at least 5 p.m.
Just after 2 p.m. Saturday, the SHA sent out an email saying that its emergency department would be operating as usual.
“I would like to thank our patients, their families, the community of Weyburn and the many staff and physicians involved in helping us through the past 24 hours,” said Derek Miller, SHA CEO.
“The evacuation during this extremely cold weather could not have been done without the care, compassion and dedication of SHA staff, physicians and paramedics who acted in the best interests of patient safety at every step,” in a release put out by the organization.
The SHA said remaining operations will resume throughout the afternoon at Weyburn General Hospital, at which point patients that were evacuated to local care homes and other health centres would be transferred back to the facility.