PHOENIX — St. Luke's Behavioral Hospital has been ordered by the Arizona Department of Health Services to cease operations as of Tuesday.
One of the reasons AZDHS ordered the suspension was due to non-functioning air conditioning in the facility.
The facility had reported the issue to AZDHS officials the morning of August 9, and when an officer with the department arrived at the facility, located near Interstate 10 and Van Buren Street at 10 a.m., the lobby of the facility was 99° Fahrenheit. The high in Phoenix that day was recorded to be 109°.
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The facility had told AZDHS that chillers were being used to help cool the hospital, but the officer was told that one of the chillers was non-operational and the other two had stopped working the day before at 5 p.m., according to department documents.
At the time of the officer's visit, there was a total of 72 patients at the facility, 22 of which were between the ages of 5 and 17 years old.
A representative for the hospital told ABC15 that a "vast majority" of the patients were taken to different facilities within 24-hours, "but because of the highly acute nature of some of the patients, it took the efforts of our team working closely with multiple state agencies, including the Arizona Department of Health, to find other appropriate facilities for those patients."
The hospital said the last patient was placed at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.
According to AZDHS, part of the hospital's corrective action plan required all patients to be evacuated and to report to the department that temperatures were within normal range before accepting any new or returning patients.
On Monday, the hospital confirmed to an AZDHS officer that it was providing care to walk-in patients. The lobby was reportedly recorded to be 87.6° and the intake area was recorded to be 90.5°. According to AZDHS documents, temperatures are required to be 70°-75° in patient care areas.
According to AZDHS, maintenance logs for the past year included issues with the air conditioning systems, elevators and kitchen equipment with no documentation of repairs being made.
Other issues leading to the suspension order included health and safety issues in the kitchen, staffing deficiencies, and a lack of documentation that a fire inspection had been conducted within the last year.
Safety concerns in the kitchen included non-functioning equipment, dirty floors and surfaces and "multiple food items, which were designated to be provided to patients, were found to be outdated by at least two months," according to documents.
As a result of the issues found, AZDHS suspended the behavioral hospital's license, forcing it to cease operations. A hearing regarding the hospital's license is set for August 29.
When asked for her reaction to the news of St. Luke's Behavioral Health having their operating license suspended, parent Heather Marlowe said, "it's about time."
Four years ago, she questioned the facility's care of her daughter when she got a call from her in a state of psychosis. She later found out the behavioral health facility reportedly gave her the wrong medication for six days along with food she was allergic to.
The hospital sent the following statement to ABC15:
“St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center and its dedicated staff provide high quality and critically important psychiatric services for a high-needs, vulnerable and marginalized population. The vast majority of our patients are part of the public payer system and have very few options for care. We are alarmed at the state of Arizona’s arbitrary decision to force St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center to suspend operations and halt patient care.
Patient care and safety is always at the forefront of everything that we do. We have been actively addressing the issues cited in the enforcement action and are making substantial progress to resolve them as soon as possible. However, in the midst of statewide shortages for critical behavioral health services, it is unconscionable for the state to halt patient care without a plan in place to serve these individuals with the ongoing care that they require. They are effectively closing this hospital and causing disruption of critical services to a vulnerable population with few options for care."
AZDHS sent the following statement regarding its action against the hospital:
"ADHS took swift action to address health and safety concerns and protect patients at St. Luke's Behavioral Hospital in Phoenix. We and our sister agency AHCCCS were on site immediately to assess the situation, including the condition of the facility and the care being provided to patients. We are grateful for our partners, including AHCCCS, its contracted Managed Care Organizations, Tribal and Regional Behavioral Health Authorities, and broader behavioral health provider community, who worked diligently to transfer patients to safe alternative settings. We will continue to work with these partners and the community to ensure these patients receive appropriate care without further disruption.
Our priority is always the health, safety, and well-being of patients. We acknowledge the impacts the hospital's closure may have on the larger behavioral health system and we remain committed to partnering with state agencies and the larger behavioral health system. We remain committed to promoting a system of high-quality care that meets the needs of people in our state."
The full document filed by AZDHS can be read in the viewer below. Having issues? Click here.
