WCHC to change switchgears Friday

WASHINGTON — Nonessential parts of the Washington County Hospital and Clinics main building will go into low-power mode late Friday night as the facility changes its switchgear, a massive device that controls the flow of electricity into the building.

Hospital higher-ups say the change is not expected to disrupt building occupants at all, thanks to two backup generators and excessive redundancies in the building’s power supply system. Everywhere that would normally accept patients Friday night — the emergency rooms, ambulance entrance, etc. — will continue to operate as normal, according to WCHC CEO Todd Patterson, who said patients were unlikely to notice any change during the 0.04-second switch over.

“Patient care areas would still be functioning as normal,” he said. “We have standard diversion procedures if anything were to actually be needed, but we’re not anticipating that at all.”

Patterson said the change was among the last steps in a broader effort to modernize the hospital’s inner workings, from heaters to coolers to rooftop units to electrical systems. The switchgear to be taken offline Friday night was first installed in 1968.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com