For Immediate Release
May 29, 2003
Nurses concerned about adequacy of testing and cleaning of mould contamination at the Foothills
Nurses from the Foothills Medical Centre are concerned that measures to handle mould contamination may be inadequate. “With yesterday’s preliminary results we have confirmation of the toxic mould stachybotrus chartarum on the dialysis Unit 27,” says Michelle Senkow, Vice-President of the United Nurses of Alberta Foothills Local. “Further testing to determine the extent of the problem and an agreed upon plan for thorough remediation are needed to make sure everything is safe.”
This is the third time in eight months that mould contamination has been found on the Unit and nurses and other staff continue to suffer from symptoms, ranging from nosebleeds, to asthma to debilitating headaches.
Senkow notes that 68 out of 103 RN nursing staff in the area have had health effects as a result of working on the unit. “It must be clear to everyone that there has been a problem on the unit for some time.”
Senkow says she is also concerned that the Health Region is planning to move equipment and files from the Foothills unit to the Peter Lougheed Hospital next week. “We believe they need to do further testing before they risk cross-contamination,” she says.
Senkow and the UNA Local first raised concerns with the Foothills management last October, and in January offered to pay to bring in an outside expert, Professor Tang Lee, to investigate. Hospital management refused and continues to refuse to allow Lee to conduct an investigation.
“The Hospital has frequently denied the presence of toxic mould. We still believe Prof. Lee should be brought in on the testing and remediation,” says Senkow.
Professor Tang Lee is the University of Calgary expert in building air safety who did testing on the Calgary and the Newmarket, Ontario Court Houses.
Lee says Stachybotrus is only one of the moulds that produces mycotoxins.
“There may be co-related moulds, many also produce mycotoxins. I think it’s very important they do the clean-up properly, what we have observed so far is completely inadequate and could spread mould spores to other locations,” says Lee.
“The preliminary results show we need to conduct a thorough air sampling throughout this unit and adjacent units,” he says.
In March UNA lodged a complaint with Alberta Workplace Health and Safety. Workplace Health and Safety responded by establishing the special technical committee, including experts nominated by UNA and other staff, which has now produced these initial results.
“UNA remains skeptical that this process will satisfactorily protect the health and safety of RNs and other hospital staff,” says Senkow.
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