Samaritan Locations Impacted by City of Watertown Water Main Break
Published on: October 19, 2023
Monday, October 23, 2023 Update:
The City of Watertown boil water notice has been officially lifted this afternoon. Samaritan locations are following strict protocol from the New York State Department of Health to ensure we are flushing our water systems and resuming operations safely.
Samaritan sites and locations will resume normal operations on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.
Scheduled surgeries for Tuesday, October 24, will continue with a few exceptions. Those patients whose surgery has been cancelled for Tuesday have already been contacted.
All outpatient endoscopy procedures for Tuesday, October 24, have been cancelled. All surgical patients and outpatient endoscopy procedures will resume to normal operations on Wednesday, October 25, 2023.
Thank you for your patience during this crisis.
Sunday, October 22, 2023 Update:
Significant progress has been made to restore water services in the City of Watertown and surrounding communities. We want to thank all our local and state agencies for the amazing work and support they have provided our community. However, since the water boil notice is still active, Samaritan Health continues to have limitations in certain areas, and we continue to adjust operations during this crisis. We are actively doing what we can with limited resources and utilizing partners across the state to help us.
On Monday, October 23, 2023, all Samaritan clinics and outpatient locations will be open and operational. There may be a few patients whose appointments will need to be rescheduled due to some of our limitations. These impacted patients will be called directly.
All outpatient lab and imaging services (MRI/CT, ultrasound, mammography, etc.) will be up and running on Monday, October 23. All scheduled patients will be seen and all walk-in services will be open.
Any of our Walker Center for Cancer Care medical oncology patients that are scheduled to receive chemotherapy treatment on Monday, October 23, that may be impacted will be contacted directly with an update.
Scheduled surgeries for Monday, October 23, will continue with a few exceptions. Those patients whose surgery has been cancelled for Monday have already been contacted.
All outpatient endoscopy procedures for Monday, October 23, have been cancelled.
We are diligently working and planning to have all services fully operational once the boil notice has been lifted and we can ensure our internal systems are operational. Thank you for your patience during this very difficult situation.
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***Samaritan Visitation Returns to Normal***
As of October 20, 2023, visitation at Samaritan Medical Center has returned to normal. Please see the visitation information on the main page of this website.
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*** Samaritan Limits Visitation Due to Water Main Break***
Samaritan Medical Center has limited inpatient visitation and Emergency Department support persons because of the water main break as follows:
Medical/Surgical Units, Critical Care Unit, Inpatient Mental Health – Visitation is closing at 3:30 p.m. on October 19, 2023 – will remain that way until further notice.
Car-Freshner Center for Women and Children – one support person allowed as of 3:30 p.m. on October 19, 2023 – until further notice.
Emergency Department (ED) – ED pediatric patients or those with an altered mental state or OB patients over 20 weeks are allowed one support person. No other support persons or visitors until further notice.
End-of-life / Comfort Care – These patients may have one support person. Compassionate exceptions are approved by the Nursing Supervisor – until further notice.
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All Samaritan locations in the City of Watertown are impacted by the major water main break that the City is trying to fix. We are seeing a significant water pressure drop. Samaritan locations within the city are conserving water in multiple ways from halting laundry services, to limiting patient and resident showering with bedside baths. We are also delivering bottled water to all areas and preparing for a delay in water delivery.
We continue to monitor our water pressure and supply and will make decisions about specific patient services as the situation progresses. We are following our water loss emergency operation plan as designed and have teams in place to help through this disruption in operations.
At this time for today, Thursday, October 19, 2023, the services that are cancelled are listed below, with some impact to tomorrow’s operations as well. All patients will be rescheduled at a later date and time.
All surgical and outpatient procedures for 10/20 will be rescheduled.
All outpatient MRI and CT appointments for 10/19 and 10/20 at the main hospital will be cancelled and rescheduled.
The Walker Center for Cancer Care will be cancelling and rescheduling all patient appointments for 10/19 and 10/20.
All services at the Samaritan Health and Wellness Plaza location (1575 Washington St.) are closed for 10/19 and 10/20 and will be rescheduled – this includes but not limited to the Family Health Center, Women’s Wellness and Breast Care, Behavioral Health and Addiction services, the SMART Clinic and Lab, X-ray, MRI and CT.
The Ear, Nose and Throat, General Surgery, Pain Clinic all located at 826 Washington St.;
The Wound Care Center located at 165 Coleman Avenue; and the
The Rheumatology and Plastic Surgery clinics located at 629 Washington St. will be closed Friday, October 20, 2023.