Madera Community Hospital temporarily closing emergency department

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- An air equipment replacement at Madera Community Hospital will mean a total shutdown of the emergency room.

"We cannot occupy the emergency department during the time that the air handler is being exchanged because there will be no airflow," says Chief Nursing Officer Mark Brown. "We won't be able to make sure that we have proper air conditioning or any kind of air exchanges in any of our rooms."

Hospital officials have been coordinating the closure for months, getting approval from the California Department of Public Health and consulting with other local hospitals about the emergency services they'll have to take over.

"They are updated," Brown said. "They are aware of what is happening here at Madera Community Hospital. We have had multiple briefings with law enforcement, our department of corrections partners and also with the jail. So they are aware that we will not be providing emergency services."

All signs that point to the emergency room will be covered, even the ones along roads leading up to the hospital. But in case an emergency patient does show up...

"During the time that the emergency department is closed, we will have an EMS or ambulance crew stationed here at Madera Community Hospital in case something were to happen," Brown said. "They are going to be stationed here at the annex building and then they will be rotated out if they get called out to something."

The hospital's rapid care walk-in clinic will be open for non-emergency treatment on Wednesday from 8 am to 11 pm.

All other services here at the hospital will continue as usual. The hospital's emergency department will be fully back in service by Thursday at 10 am.