MINDEMOYA—A pre-Christmas flood at the Manitoulin Health Centre’s (MHC) Mindemoya site flooded the Manitoulin Central Family Health Team (FHT) located in the lower level of the hospital causing significant damage and requiring the FHT to relocate to other, albeit more limited, offices in the facility.
FHT manager Lori Oswald informed The Expositor that insurance inspectors have been onsite assessing the damage and the FHT is working on a plan to get everything cleaned up and to start with the restoration work.
“The damage was quite extensive,” she said. Ms. Oswald noted that the hospital has been working closely with the FHT to provide temporary lodgings and other locations in the community are also being employed to fill in temporarily.
MHC CFO Eric Theriault noted that the damage was caused by a failure of the sprinkler system in the FHT offices. The water coming out of the sprinklers is under pressure, 250 PSI, and although the issue was spotted very quickly by MHC staff, a lot of water came down very quickly.
Mr. Theriault said the hospital anticipates that a clearer understanding of the extent of the damage, what will be required to repair it and a timeline for things to return to normal may come on Tuesday, January 6.
In the meantime, the FHT is still in operation, noted Ms. Oswald, and patients can contact them through the normal telephone numbers as there is no office reception to come into at the moment. There will also be some unusual delays, given the challenges of working from different locations, and she asks that people be patient in the meantime.
The telephone number for the FHT is 705-377-5371.
