Story Published:
May 13, 2008 at 6:11 PM CST
Story Updated:
May 14, 2008 at 9:15 PM CST
LEBANON, Mo. -- A building next to St. John's Hospital here was closed to employees and the public on Tuesday so it could be inspected. St. John's says the Laclede County Office of Emergency Management recommended the inspection after two employees of St. John's Fitness Center came down with allergy-like symptoms on Monday.
A spokeswoman for St. John's main office in Springfield says an inspection on Monday found nothing wrong with the building's air. Still, the Office of Emergency Management thought a more thorough inspection was warranted. Part of the inspection process included closing a road next to the building.
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News release on Wednesday, 10 a.m.:
Emergency
Management and other
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Lebanon
officials concluded this morning that there were no open air hazards on site in the
rented building near the campus of
St. John’s
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Hospital
– w:st="on">
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Lebanon
on I-44, Exit 130.
The
building, which houses business office and
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Fitness
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Center
operations, was vacated yesterday after two co-workers experienced allergy-like
symptoms causing discomfort, including scratchy eyes, itchy skin and nausea.
About 15 co-workers work in the facility, which will reopen shortly.
“As
a proactive measure, we felt it would be best to close the buildings until tests
were run,” said w:st="on">
St. John’s
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Hospital
– w:st="on">
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Lebanon
vice president of nursing Judy O’Connor-Snyder.
Hospital
officials contacted authorities to assist with testing of the facility and had
the co-workers evaluated in the
St. John’s
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Hospital
– w:st="on">
u2:st="on">
Lebanon
emergency room. Neither were admitted to the hospital.
LTC
David L. Boyle, Commander, 7th WMD CST, led the testing of the
facility, with assistance from the Office of Emergency Management and Fire Chief
Sam Schneider, Lebanon Police Department and other supporting agencies.
“A
variety of sensors were used to check the air and building, all that was
detected were cleaning solutions, air fresheners and sanitation products,”
said St. Johns-Lebanon, Director of Engineering, Bill Shumate. “No
detections of hazardous substances were found external to the building.”
LTC
Boyle said the course of action is to ventilate the building the next 24 hours.
He said all surfaces will be cleaned with soap and water and all food
items will be discarded from the building, additionally, cleaning
solutions will be removed. Further monitoring of the building will
continue.
According
to O’Connor-Snyder, the staff of the business office will be temporarily
relocated and the w:st="on">
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Fitness
w:st="on">
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Center
will be closed during the monitoring period. “Certainly the health, safety
and well-being of our co-workers and visitors is our number one concern,” said O’Connor-Snyder.
