A popular area hospital - Henry Ford- West Bloomfield has been forced to tap into its crisis contingency plan in the wake of a water mane break that happened two miles away.
Henry Ford says their water has been going in and out since early this morning, forcing the need for quick action.
"There are many procedures that rely on water— they must have water to work," said Amy Strauss, a representative of Henry Ford- West Bloomfield.
Earlier today, the hospital pumped in new sanitized water to compensate for what they can no longer access. So far, they have pumped in more than 5,500 gallons for flushing toilets, while some patients were re-assigned.
"We transferred about 15 patients so far, and those were critically ill patients," said Bob Riney, COO of the Henry Ford health system.
Those patients, he says, were transferred to Henry Ford- Detroit. More changes included re-scheduling or moving all elective procedures, such as C-sections, to different hospitals for both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Additionally, all ambulance traffic has been diverted. But Henry Ford is not alone. Providence Park in Novi is all experiencing the same water disruption.
It responded by cancelling all elective surgeries and moving four dialysis patients to Providence-Southfield.
Area clinics were forced to scramble as well. Beaumont Medical Center in West Bloomfield announced its closure Tuesday --- while moving 13 surgeries to Beaumont-Royal Oak.
Hospital and clinic websites are updating their status regularly and officials urge residents to check them for any developments.
