Hartford – The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) responded to aid a nursing home to protect the safety of its residents after there was a malfunction with the heating system.  A boiler problem the morning of Wednesday, November 28th at the West Rock Health Care Center in New Haven resulted in a failure of the heating system.  The facility was not evacuated and nobody was injured.    The DPH, at the request of West Rock Health Care Center and the New Haven Fire Department, deployed two portable heating units and supporting generator capacity from the Ottilie W. Lundgren Memorial Field Hospital to provide the facility with heat while the heating system was repaired.   “State public health officials quickly deployed assets from the mobile hospital to ensure the safety of residents at West Rock,” stated Governor M. Jodi Rell. “Once again, use of the state’s mobile hospital shows how it is a key asset to our level of preparedness and ability to quickly respond to health emergencies anywhere in the state.”   The Ottilie W. Lundgren Memorial Field Hospital is a mobile hospital that was purchased as part of the state’s overall preparedness efforts.  The hospital is transportable and has the ability to provide shelter and medical care in an emergency.  The mobile hospital can hold up to 100 hospital beds and can support medical equipment necessary to treat patients in a large-scale event. The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state.  To contact the department, please visit its website at www.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270.

For more information, contact: William Gerrish Connecticut Department of Public Health Phone: (860) 509-7270