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Local hospital officials say Y2K ills are cured

By Richard Sine West Bank bureau/The Times-Picayune

On Jan. 1, pharmacy computers at East Jefferson General Hospital crashed when they encountered a drug that expired in the year 2000. The glitch took several hours to repair. The computer manufacturer provided a fix and assured the hospital that the computers were Y2K compliant.

Two months later the system crashed again. This time, it was baffled by a nurse's license that expired in the year 2000.

"That hit home to us," said Bruce Curson, chief operating officer at East Jefferson. "I said, this thing's for real."

By now, Curson said, East Jefferson is ready.

Officials from hospitals throughout the New Orleans area say they have finished testing and retesting everything from respirators to elevators. All that remains is the big night itself, which dozens of doctors, nurses, administrators and technical specialists in each hospital will celebrate by the glow of computer screens or under the glare of hospital ward fluorescent lights.

At East Jefferson, which has spent about $5 million to fix the problems, 100 extra staffers will be on hand to test equipment or tend to patients in case telephones go down. They will join the 400 employees who normally work the midnight shift at a miniparty in the cafeteria, where they will get a ceramic bell inscribed with the legend "I rang in the new millennium at East Jefferson Hospital."

"People should feel very comfortable that East Jefferson is going to be there for them," Curson said.

Hospital administrators said that Y2K preparation began two or more years ago, with an inventory of computers and medical equipment that could have problems. They sent a flurry of letters to manufacturers seeking a guarantee of Y2K compliance. Equipment that could not be fixed was thrown out. The "fixed" devices were then tested by having their clocks set to the year 2000.

Most hospitals gave priority to fixing equipment that is critical to direct patient care. At Charity and University hospitals, more than 7,000 pieces of equipment were checked, half of which were designated "mission critical." An outside consultant found that the critical equipment was ready.

Modern emergency rooms and operating rooms are heavily dependent on high-tech equipment, but independent medical repair technicians say there will be little to fear from the millennium bug. Many key pieces of medical equipment do not have an internal clock, or do not rely on the clock for essential operations, said James Pizzolato of Medical Repair Services in Metairie.

Key equipment generates so much revenue when it operates, and can be the source of such liability when it fails, that it won't be allowed to malfunction, said Robert Probst of Technical Prospects, a sales and repair firm in Wisconsin.

"Most of the vendors have installed this stuff themselves, for free, because (a failure) would be a liability for them," he said.

While hospital officials expressed confidence that their own equipment and computers would experience few problems, they are not counting on outside systems such as phones and electricity to operate. Hospital officials say they will spend New Year's Eve and the next day in disaster mode, just as they would prepare for a hurricane or storm.

"Hospitals by their very nature have to respond to unforeseen events," said Lance Ignon, spokesman for Tenet Healthsystem, which owns Memorial Medical Center, Kenner Regional Medical Center, Meadowcrest Hospital in Gretna, NorthShore Regional Medical Center in Covington, Doctors Hospital of Jefferson, and St. Charles General. "They have to be ready to deliver care in very difficult circumstances, whether flood, hurricane, power outage or earthquake. The advantage with Y2K is we've seen it coming for several years."

To receive accreditation, all hospitals must have a disaster plan, hospital officials say. Ochsner Foundation Hospital has water to last patients and staff for several days. Chalmette Medical Center has additional food and pharmaceuticals. East Jefferson has its own water well and an electrical generator "that can light a small city," Curson said.

Some hospitals, such as Charity, are setting up "command centers" throughout the night. Computer managers will be testing systems before and after midnight and first thing Monday morning, some hospitals say.

Hospital officials said they also have a strategy to get extra staff on site in a matter of minutes, even if phones go out. BellSouth has loaned East Jefferson about 100 cell phones in case of problems, Curson said. Ochsner Foundation Hospital has developed a contact tree using strategic people in each neighborhood, said Richard Guthrie, Ochsner medical director.

The preparations for Hurricane Georges acted as a sort of dry run for Y2K, Guthrie said. "We had a complete mobilization of our hurricane plan. It worked quite well. We had the entire complement of physicians we would be using for an entire week."

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PULL QUOTE: ''Hospitals by their very nature have to respond to unforeseen events. .$.$. The advantage with Y2K is we've seen it coming for several years.'' LANCE IGNON Tenet Healthsystem spokesman

12/28/99

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 29, 1999