Olive View Getting Final Exam Before Doors Open

Agnes Hardy strode into an exam room at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar, turned on the hot water faucet, flicked the light switch on and off and looked inside the medicine cabinet.

When the water from the faucet started steaming, she pulled a thermometer out of her pocket and thrust it into the stream. The mercury rose to 110 degrees, and the state hospital inspector smiled. Hot-water temperatures are required to measure between 105 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

On to the next room.

After a one-year delay in opening, Olive View is undergoing its final “white glove” inspection. It is a painstakingly detailed survey by state investigators empowered to issue or deny an operating license to the Los Angeles County hospital.

If all is found to comply with state health code, a license will be issued within days, and “once it’s hanging on the wall,” the hospital can admit patients, a state Department of Health Services spokeswoman said.

2-Week Event

The inspection began last week and is expected to be completed by the end of this week, said Jacqueline Lincer, district administrator of the state’s Licensing and Certification Division.

It will take another six weeks to close the county’s Mid-Valley Hospital in Van Nuys and prepare to transfer patients to the new $120-million, six-story facility. The first Olive View Hospital was destroyed in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake.

During these two weeks, four inspectors arrive at the hospital daily to scrutinize each of the 506,690 square feet of the facility with a checklist of thousands of items that under state law must function properly before a license can be issued.

Douglas Bagley, hospital administrator, described the process as “finer than a fine-toothed comb.”

Inspectors, armed with an inch-thick workbook of state regulations, check emergency power generators and oxygen and gas systems. The hospital water undergoes a chlorine test to make sure it is pure. Inspectors test each electric socket, flush every toilet and push each nurse call button to see if the light works and the buzzer sounds.

The state calls in specialists for each hospital function: State nurses review procedures with hospital nursing administrators; a dietary consultant inspects the cafeteria kitchen. A physician makes sure each surgical tool is in place in the operating room.

Bagley does not expect any serious problems to be discovered at this final inspection.

Permits in Order

Before the state even began, the hospital obtained every other permit regarding the safety of the building and its equipment. Each power-plant system and piece of hospital equipment has been tested and approved by the appropriate agency.

X-ray equipment, for instance, bears a seal of approval from the state’s radiologic health branch.

“One X-ray machine or one electric socket may seem like a small item in terms of total hospital operations,” Lincer said. “But it only takes one little thing to malfunction for someone to get hurt. It is our responsibility to prove that everything is functioning before we can issue a license.”

The final inspection comes a year after the hospital was beset by problems in its air-handling system. The Los Angeles Fire Department concluded then during its own inspection that the exhaust system was inadequate in the event of a fire. Also, the system was not considered strong enough to circulate sufficient air to dissipate bad odors.

The problems prompted the county to file a $5.1-million lawsuit against the companies involved in designing the hospital: Olive View Medical Center Architects & Engineers, the Luckman Partnership, Syska & Hennessy and Welton Becket Associates.

No opening date has been set for the Los Angeles Superior Court suit.

In the meantime, it took months for engineers to figure out how to solve the problem and more time to order equipment and retest the system, Bagley said. The state fire marshal approved the air conditioning system March 19, clearing the way for the final licensing inspection.

Inside the hospital, the floors are polished and the beds made. Medicine cabinets are stocked, and protective paper covers the exam tables. Employee orientation has begun.

“Everything is here. As soon as the inspection is complete, we are ready to roll,” Bagley said.

Firmly holding her notebook Friday afternoon, inspector Vivianne Fitzgerald, a registered nurse, led a pack of five hospital-nursing administrators in and out of each exam room, linen closet and bathroom in the pediatric clinic.

Numerous Steps

Fitzgerald, a state inspector for three years, wears sturdy shoes and pushes a pedometer at her side. She has been registering four to six miles a day during the Olive View inspection.

In one room she notes that the light does not flick on.

She looked at the ceiling and said, “Look there, a flange is missing on that sprinkler head.”

The nurse administrators jot it all down and immediately call to have the items repaired. On the following day, they will show the inspectors that the deficiencies have been fixed.

Fitzgerald sees that some furniture has not been bolted to the walls in accordance with seismic regulations.

“The floors are marred and scuffed a little bit here. You should touch that up,” she said.

Bagley said one of the most anxiety-provoking tests occurred when the inspectors checked out the hospital’s emergency power system last week. As the inspectors stood with stopwatches in various locations around the building, the power was completely shut down, and the hospital was plunged into darkness. Under state law, the emergency power must take over within 10 seconds.

“We had tested it dozens of times and we knew it would work, but it still was tense,” Bagley said.

The power kicked on in seven seconds.

Although they do not test every piece of sophisticated medical equipment themselves, the inspectors can call in specialists to do so. Also, they randomly pull out permits and maintenance records on a piece of equipment to make sure all is in compliance.

“It’s kind of like final exam,” Bagley said. “Only on a final exam, you know they are only going to ask a limited number of questions. With this, there is no limit.”