Emergency department closed after chemical scare
Emergency Management Alert, August 12, 2008
On August 9 officials temporarily closed the emergency department at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston after four hospital workers were sickened by a substance brought into the hospital with a patient.
DeKalb County Fire called in its Hazmat team and evacuated the emergency department for a few hours while it worked to identify the substance. That substance turned out to be pellets used in pool maintenance, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The bag of pellets was brought into the Georgia hospital with a patient and his mother, who also became sick. They and the hospital workers experienced nausea, vomiting, and dizziness, a fire captain reported.
Hospital staff put the mother and patient in isolation and moved the chemical outside as a precaution until fire officials arrived. Once the Hazmat team identified the chemical, members placed the bag of pellets into a biohazard bag for disposal.
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