Threatened all week by the encroaching Castle Rock Fire, St Luke's Wood River Medical Center was officially moved from "mandatory evacuation" status to "advisory status" as of 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 30.
With this change, the hospital's staff has begun the process of resuming normal operations and all departments will be fully functional by 7 a.m. Friday, Aug. 31.
The hospital's emergency room, which was operational during the closure but at a limited capacity, resumed normal operations on Thursday, Aug. 30.
The Physician Office Annex (POA) clinics will return to regular office hours on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The POA houses the St. Luke's Wood River OB-GYN program, headed by Dr. Joseph Rodriguez, some of whose patients had to make arrangements to have their babies delivered in Boise this past week.
However, the hospital was not completely closed to women in labor during the mandatory evacuation, explained St Luke's spokeswoman Tanya Keim.
"We were looking at all OB patients on a case-by-case basis," said Keim. "If they presented to us in the ER in labor we were delivering, but the OB physicians were working with their patients on a one-to-one basis and deciding, with the input of the patient, whether or not to refer them to Boise.
"They will be reopening and up to full speed next Tuesday (Sept. 4)," Keim added. "Dr Rodriguez's staff have been in contact with all of their patients throughout this incident, keeping them in touch with what's been going on."
However, the hospital is not out of the woods completely. The building is still under an advisory evacuation status, which is issued as a precaution, allowing the hospital to plan ahead should the fire's status change.
"We have appreciated the community's support and patience during this past week while we remained in mandatory evacuation status," said Bruce Jensen, CEO of St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. "We are thrilled to resume our normal operations of providing care to the Wood River Valley."
For further information, contact St. Luke's at 727-8200.
