The Arizona Department of Health Services on Tuesday ordered St. Luke’s Behavioral Hospital to immediately cease operations pending an investigation. The department noted multiple violations at the facility, including a broken air conditioning system, with some areas of the hospital reaching 99 degrees.
According to the suspension order, the facility notified the state on Aug. 9 that the air conditioning system had failed throughout the entire hospital and the hospital had brought in temporary chillers to keep temperatures down. But the chillers also stopped functioning. When a health department officer inspected the facility later that day, the officer recorded the lobby temperature as 99 degrees and an adolescent housing area of the facility as 87 degrees.
A spokesperson for St. Luke’s parent company, Steward Health Care, said in a statement to KJZZ News that the hospital has safely transferred its 98 patients to other facilities. Most patients were transferred within 24 hours of the AC system failing. The last patient was transferred on the morning of Aug. 10.
The spokesperson said the hospital was “alarmed” by the state’s “arbitrary decision” to disrupt care for the mostly low-income, high-needs psychiatric patients it serves.
“We have been actively addressing the issues cited in the enforcement action and are making substantial progress to resolve them as soon as possible. However, in the midst of statewide shortages for critical behavioral health services, it is unconscionable for the state to halt patient care without a plan in place to serve these individuals with the ongoing care that they require. They are effectively closing this hospital and causing disruption of critical services to a vulnerable population with few options for care," the statement said.
In addition to the broken air conditioning system, the health department’s order notes the hospital also had a broken elevator and multiple health and safety violations in the kitchen.
The health department has scheduled a hearing for later this month over the suspended license. The hospital spokesperson said St. Luke’s is working as quickly as possible to resolve the issues.
