Local

CEO: Damage from water main break at Grady Hospital will take months to repair

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned it’s going to take months to repair damage from a water main break at Grady Hospital.

In his only television interview, Grady Hospital President & CEO John Haupert said Emory Healthcare will take some of Grady’s patients after the 24-inch water main burst in December.

"This was, is, a major disaster," Haupert said.

Grady was forced to shut down three floors and 220 beds, diverting its E.R. patients to other hospitals.

"They are feeling the additional volume, not as much as the first few weeks following the disaster when we were on full diversion and all volume was going to them," Haupert said.

After Governor Kemp declared the incident a disaster, Haupert said they could ask for help from a North Carolina mobile hospital with 30 additional beds and send E.R. patients, as well as new moms, to Emory Healthcare.

“We are taking all of the walk-in volume that would’ve normally come to us. That volume is the same and 80% of the E.R. patients that would’ve come to us by ambulance,” Haupert said.

50,000 gallons of water flooded three floors of Grady. Repairs by two local construction crews won't be done until October. Haupert said insurance will pick up repair and renovation costs after a $100,000 deductible.

"The construction firms started the work Monday and are finalizing what that cost will be,” Haupert said.

While the repairs continue, Emory Healthcare in Decatur will take the OBGYN patients and Emory Hillandale in Lithonia will take 30 patients, allowing Grady to focus on trauma, stroke and burn patients.