Duke Hospital reopens to ambulances after pipe burst and flooded ER
Ambulances will resume bringing patients to Duke University Hospital on New Year’s Eve, five days after a water pipe burst and flooded the emergency department.
EMS workers and nearby hospitals were bracing for several more days of 911 patients being rerouted, but parts of the Duke Hospital ER reopened Monday afternoon and the diversion protocol was lifted by 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“We extend our heart-felt thanks to area emergency medical services and neighboring hospitals that provided support over these past days,” Duke Health officials said in a statement.
Thomas Owens, chief operating officer for Duke University Health System, said in an interview that he believed ER patients received good care despite the circumstances.
“We’re extraordinarily grateful to our team, who have just been remarkable and inspiring in the way they’ve come together: to be creative, to be innovative, to support each other, to make sure we’re delivering outstanding care and to work through this over a holiday period,” Owens said.
What happened inside Duke ER when pipe burst?
The hospital on Erwin Road, which receives the most 911 patients in Durham, had a 12-inch chilled water pipe burst shortly before midnight Thursday, Dec. 26.
Tens of thousands of gallons of water poured through the ceilings and down the walls, forcing an evacuation and destroying some equipment and infrastructure.
The ER and adjacent areas on the first floor flooded, leading staff to move patients to emptier parts of the hospital with “a lot of creativity,” Owens said. Ambulances were told not to bring patients, and the hospital set up a triage center for people arriving at the ER on their own.
“Our team responded exactly the way we’d hoped: they put our patients first,” Owens said.
Chilled water lines help control temperatures and operate in a closed loop outside the drinking water supply. Owens said they are investigating why the pipe burst, and hope to have an answer next week.
Owens said they expect the damage will cost tens of millions of dollars.
‘Significant damage’ on first floor
Around 350 recovery and construction experts were brought in to dry things out, remove damaged ceiling tiles and walls, test potentially damaged equipment, make drywall repairs and repaint, Owens said.
“Our prioritization was initially on the areas that we don’t have duplication of, so the emergency department proper,” Owens said.
Of the hospital’s 76 ER beds, 16 were back in service at noon Monday. The front entrance and waiting room were also open, and many patients were being treated in other parts of the hospital.
The radiology area, where X-rays and other imaging are carried out, had “significant damage,” officials said Monday. Most of the services the ER relies upon have temporarily shifted to elsewhere in Duke’s sprawling network of health care facilities.
The hospital said it began accepting some patients from ambulances on Monday. That included children, and people suffering from strokes and serious heart attacks.
Trauma care — for patients with life-threatening injuries, such as from a car crash, gunshot wound or serious fall — was the last area to reopen.
Owens said trauma care is “perhaps the most complicated, and requires not only a large treatment area, but also access to other key services very rapidly.”
Where patients are being treated
Duke Health urged people to seek care elsewhere after the pipe burst, and hospitals throughout the Triangle absorbed patients from Durham.
Chief paramedic Gordon Smith said Duke University Hospital typically receives around 80% of patients transported by Durham County ambulances.
“Durham EMS has seen no appreciable, significant difference in any of our response times or hospital times, oddly,” Smith said Monday while reviewing preliminary data. “I do suspect, however, that was due to the holiday weekend.”
Durham EMS has averaged close to 700 patient transports a week in 2024, but it had 588 transports the week ending Dec. 29.
The facility is a Level I trauma center, the highest possible designation, meaning its staff can provide complex specialty care for life-threatening injuries.
It took over 100 new patients from Monday to Thursday, but others were driven across the Triangle:
- Other trauma centers: The region has two other Level I trauma centers: UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and the WakeMed flagship in Raleigh.
- Also receiving patients: Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, UNC Hospitals Hillsborough and WakeMed Brier Creek Healthplex all have their own emergency rooms taking rerouted patients. The Durham VA Medical Center also received transports.
UNC Health, WakeMed hospitals absorbing the strain
UNC Health saw a 20% to 30% increase in ER volume at its hospitals in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, spokesperson Alan Wolf said Monday, prompting them to call in extra staff.
“I think everyone was grateful that folks were willing to come in, especially around the holidays,” Wolf said. “Everyone from physicians and nurses, to the folks that clean the rooms, the food service folks.”
“Our local hospital systems always work together to help meet each other’s needs,” Kristin Kelly, spokesperson for WakeMed, said in an email.
Wolf said hospitalizations had begun to tick up anyway as respiratory illnesses spread this cold and flu season.
“This is one of the reasons we’re fortunate to live in this area with choices for health care,” Wolf said. “All the hospitals step in when there’s a situation like this and help each other out.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Duke Hospital reopens to ambulances after pipe burst and flooded ER."
