Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago suffers ‘major air conditioning failure’ during heat spell; repairs expected to take several days

The situation at Chicago’s Uptown Weiss Memorial Hospital is reportedly dire, with individuals exiting the facility, whether as patients or employees, describing the interior conditions as unbearable on Tuesday night.

Hospital management said the repairs are expected to take several days as temperatures are expected to increase this weekend.

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In a statement, Weiss Memorial Hospital called what happened a “catastrophic loss of its air conditioning system.”

The hospital has not specified the reason for the outage but attributed the prolonged repair and restoration process to a lack of maintenance by the previous owners, who purportedly neglected the hospital’s “aging infrastructure.”

Earlier, outside the emergency room entrance we saw several patients being placed into ambulances.

In response, Weiss Memorial Hospital has moved the majority of its patients to West Suburban Medical Center, its affiliated hospital, and has sought assistance from other local hospitals.

ABC7 spoke to one man, Steven Acosta, after he was discharged, and he talked about what the conditions were like inside.

“To be honest it’s like an oven. The only thing is they got a machine like this for air, but it’s for the hallways only. But inside the rooms? No air. Just wind blowing out of the vent,” Acosta said.

Weiss Memorial Hospital says its outpatient areas and other areas not impacted will stay open, but their emergency room is redirecting ambulances and will still be open for walk-in patients.

Hospital management says after the repairs are done, the hospital will need to be cooled to a certain temperature before normal operation can resume.