PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – A power outage is causing service disruptions at a northern Saskatchewan hospital. Elective surgeries have been cancelled at Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital after a transformer failed late Tuesday afternoon.
Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR) says two replacement transformers will be installed Wednesday night. The installation will require a planned power outage for parts of the hospital starting at 9 p.m.
Patients whose services have been affected will be notified.
Health officials are working with neighboring health regions to provide assistance. Emergency room staff are working with paramedics prior to making any decision to transfer a patient to another hospital.
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PAPHR spokesperson Doug Dahl said the transformer that failed is an essential part of the power supply network. It caused power outages in various parts of the hospital including the intensive care unit, operating rooms and part of the emergency department.
Those areas would normally be supplied with backup power, but that didn’t happen as the failed transformer is the one fed by the emergency generator.
While some networks are up, Dahl said the “system is still not stable.”
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It also knocked out phone and computer networks, which affected locations throughout the health region. Those were back up late Tuesday evening.
Wednesday’s planned power outage will also result in the region’s information technology and telephone systems being unavailable from 7:30 p.m. until several hours after the power is restored.
PAPHR expects there will be no further service disruptions starting Thursday.
Patients with non-urgent medical needs are asked by the region to seek services at minor emergency/walk-in clinics during the outage as the emergency department will be affected.
The cause of the transformer failure is under investigation.
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