By James Peters

Strong odour disrupts Halloween day surgeries at RIH operating theatre

Nov 2, 2017 | 3:33 PM

KAMLOOPS — A ghoulish odour caused a big disruption for Royal Inland Hospital on Halloween day.

RIH Administrator Tracy Rannie says the smell struck the operating theatre Tuesday morning.

“An odour was detected in the (operating room) area mid-morning on October 31. As a result, staff were relocated from the area,” said Rannie. “We did postpone (operations) at the time, and they resumed later on in the evening.”

Rannie says Interior Health is now trying to determine what caused the stench.

“The source still remains unclear and it’s under investigation. It was definitely a strong odour,” said Rannie.

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“It did disrupt operations of the OR theatres because we wanted to determine the air was safe. Once we determined that, we started ORs again in the evening, and we had regular operations on November 1.”

A woman who works in the OR told CFJC Today she has had to stay home from work since the incident because of a migraine.

Rannie says the incident has been reported through the IH staff health and safety line.

“There definitely was a strong odour; people did have some symptoms of nausea and headaches.”