Saskatoon children’s hospital left in dark after backup generator failure

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Saskatoon’s children’s hospital was left without electricity for almost an hour on Aug. 28 when backup generators failed to start following a power outage.

According to a spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), the power went out around 6 p.m. in both Royal University Hospital and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, but the emergency generator only failed in the children’s hospital.

“Clinical staff were quick to support patients who required extra care and briefed patients and parents about the situation as it progressed,” said a statement from the SHA.

“There was no harm to patients or equipment.”

The statement said the health authority is “extremely proud of how quickly staff dealt with the situation.”

The authority said it’s working to determine why the generators in the children’s hospital didn’t kick on when the outage first occurred.

“SHA staff continue to look into the situation to assess what led to the outage and determine why the back-up generator did not engage when required.”

The health region says the issue is not related to a lack of maintenance staff.

“SHA is not experiencing a critical shortage of employees in this area,” a spokesperson told CTV News in an email.