St. Joseph’s CEO: no new Legionella cases in last three weeks

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has had “no new cases” of hospital-acquired Legionella in the last three weeks. 

That’s according to Kathryn Ruscitto, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s, who issued a statement on the situation Wednesday afternoon.

In the statement, Ruscitto said St. Joseph’s has taken “aggressive and comprehensive steps to identify and address potential Legionella bacteria” in the facility’s water system.

The hospital continues waiting for “definitive” results from the tests on its water system.

Ruscitto also contends St. Joseph’s took actions that “far exceeded” the recommendations of the New York State Department of Health; worked with its other system partners in Trinity Health “to review all best practices;” and retained a “national expert” to make sure the facility is handling the situation in a way that ensures the “health and safety” of its patients, visitors, and staff, Ruscitto said.

Livonia, Michigan–based Trinity Health describes itself as “one of the largest multi-institutional, Catholic health-care delivery systems in the nation.” St. Joseph’s formally joined Trinity Health in July.

“We have installed highly-engineered filters to remove possible contaminants, including bacteria, in patient areas to further ensure their safety even as we continue to learn the full facts. As a result of our work, we have taken action to ensure that patients, staff and visitors are and will remain safe while we continue to analyze how the Legionella bacteria may have become present in our water system,” said Ruscitto.

Ruscitto called it “an extremely complex situation,” noting that “except for patient-privacy matters,” St. Josephs hasn’t withheld information from reporters or “any other audiences who have contacted us.”

St. Joseph’s late Monday confirmed that a hospital patient in September died from what the hospital believes were “complications of multiple medical problems in addition to the Legionella pneumonia.”

The hospital also noted that it hasn’t been able to conclude the patient contracted the bacteria while at the hospital. St. Joseph’s also had two additional patients who tested positive for Legionella but did recover, according to its statement.

St. Joseph’s doesn’t currently have any Legionella pneumonia patients as of now, the hospital also noted in its statement.

St. Joseph’s on Monday lifted the water restriction on its emergency-services building after test results “confirmed no presence of Legionella bacteria.”

The hospital imposed the restriction on the previous Friday.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com