VA hospital flood affecting hundreds of veterans

Aug 27, 2024, 4:34 PM | Updated: 4:41 pm

The Salt Lake City VA Hospital is now working to clean up after a pipe that burst on Sunday and flooded part of the building on Aug. 27, 2024 (Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio)

(Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio)

BY ADAM SMALL

Reporter

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City VA Hospital is cleaning up after a pipe burst on Sunday and flooded part of the building.

The Salt Lake City VA Hospital pipe that burst. Aug. 27, 2024 (Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio)

Hospital admins said around midnight on Sunday an old hot water pipe on the fifth-floor burst, flooding that floor and the floor below.

Executive Director of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care system, Dr. Angela Williams said the hospital and its pipes are now more than 70 years old.

“This is not the first time we’ve dealt with it and it’s probably not the last until we get a new hospital,” said Williams.

Williams said renovations can be difficult because of the age of the building — some parts they don’t make anymore.

Caring for patients

While they clean up, the hospital is having to rearrange appointments to other buildings, clinics or telehealth.

Williams says they’ve had to reschedule or switch roughly 600 veteran appointments to telehealth in just the last two days.

Many of these veterans are in need of specialty care.

“It’s important for us to get fully functional as quick as we can because we want to make sure that they are receiving the care they deserve. But more importantly, we provide better care within the VA system,” Williams said.

It could take two to three months for them to return to normal operations. And the cost to repair the damage is still unknown.

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