Flooding caused by the extreme cold prompted the Health Department at one of only two level one trauma centers in D.C. to divert ambulances this week, and staff members say conditions at the hospital already were extremely challenging.
Edward Smith, executive director of the District of Columbia Nurses Association, said the union’s members expressed concerns about severely inadequate heat at George Washington University Hospital even before flooding incidents Jan. 26 and Feb. 2.
“Nurses have been trying to report that temperatures are not appropriate for a health care setting and have not seen much action,” he said.
Video obtained by News4 shows brown water flowing down an interior stairwell. Another video shows water pooled in a room with an empty patient bed.
Some images were posted to social media.
“We saw a number of posts that were very discouraging,” Smith said.
He said his union’s members at GW Hospital are concerned for their patients and their own personal safety. He said he met with hospital officials to talk about what needs to be done to fix the problem.
“I did meet with management today for about 15 minutes, and we got a short briefing from management, and the water was from the sprinklers, and it was rusty water,” Smith said.
In a statement to News4, a spokesperson for the hospital said: “On Monday, 2/2/26, a sprinkler pipe burst at GW Hospital, with water flowing into various clinical areas. Several ORs were impacted, which required us to reschedule elective procedures originally planned … Engineering teams are on site and remediation is currently occurring.”
When it learned of the flooding, the DC Health Department temporarily placed GW on what’s known as EMS diversion. Ambulances were rerouted to other hospitals while the flooding was dealt with.
Ambulances are once again using GW’s emergency room entrance.
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