St. John's set to reopen today following fumigation
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers OVERSEEING WORK- John Mason, president of Sabre Technical Services, explains the process by which the company monitors the levels of chlorine dioxide gas used to fumigate St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard last week. Hospital administrators contracted with Sabre to rid the 350,000-square-foot hospital of mold and mold spores.

Pending regulatory approval, St. John's Regional Medical Center expects to reopen today after closing for two weeks to fumigate the hospital for mold.

Area hospitals report a moderate increase in patient load since the Oxnard hospital closed on Aug. 8 and say they are handling the extra patients with more medical staff on hand.

St. John's officials allege the mold growth throughout the 265bed hospital was caused by poorly installed windows and showers by general contractor Centex Rodgers when the hospital was built in 1992.

St. John's president Mike Murray said the process to rid the Oxnard hospital of mold and mold spores was "fairly expensive" but stopped short of saying what it cost the hospital's parent company Catholic Heathcare West.

"Even after the cost of fumigation, (it) saves the hospital tens of millions of dollars," he said on Tuesday.

The San Francisco-based nonprofit also runs St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo.

Hospital officials contracted with New York-based Sabre Technical Services for a fumigation procedure that circulates chlorine dioxide gas throughout the multistory tented hospital.

The fumigation was the first of its kind for a West Coast hospital.

Murray said they considered other methods but they posed too many problems or had too many drawbacks.

"There really isn't a very efficient solution for large structures," Murray said.

Sabre President John Mason said although this was the first time the company fumigated a hospital, it has five years experience decontaminating large structures of mold, anthrax and other microorganisms, including postal facilities, the U.S. Department of Labor and buildings on Capitol Hill.

Used by the food and drinking water industries to disinfect and sterilize for more than 70 years, chlorine dioxide gas can penetrate all surface types, is environmentally friendly and leaves no toxic residue, according to the company's website.

To rid St. John's of mold and mold spores, some 150 specialized Sabre workers from around the world transformed the hospital's parking lot into a makeshift chemical plant and laboratory for a few days last week.

Mason said they needed to reach a critical combination of humidity, temperature and chorine dioxide gas concentration to kill the mold and invisible spores.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was also present to monitor the progress of the fumigation.

As of press time, the California Department of Health Services was expected to give the goahead for the hospital to begin accepting patients today.