Published: October 07, 2008 09:49 pm            

MEDINA: Hospital put on lockdown; exposure scare defused

MEDINA — Medina Memorial Hospital was placed on lockdown Tuesday afternoon after an exposure scare for a substance that tested out to be harmless.

The hospital and roads leading to the facility were cordoned off by emergency responders, and local traffic was rerouted in an effort to keep any potential exposure contained.

At around 2:30 p.m., Jim Sinner, president and CEO of Medina Memorial Hospital, summed up what was happening. “There apparently was an incident at the post office, and right now we are just going to a briefing in the board room (on the lock-down),” he said.

Medina Police Chief Jose Avila said that as police arrived at the hospital, they learned that an Albion resident had been admitted for possible exposure to an unknown substance. The woman received a letter Monday from Verizon. After opening the piece of mail Tuesday, the woman became ill and brought the letter to the Albion Post Office, where officials took custody of the letter.

The woman then went to the hospital seeking medical treatment. A decontamination center was set up for anyone that staff felt may have been exposed or at risk.

“(Since the woman came in), we had to enact our emergency preparedness plan,” Sinner said.

The postal inspector was notified, according to postal service protocol. The Albion Post Office was closed for customer access until about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Local law enforcement arrived at the office to help prevent others from entering the potentially contaminated area, according to Karen Mazurkiewicz, spokeswoman for the Western New York district of the U.S. Postal Service.

“Following the investigation, the postal inspector has said everything is fine,” Mazurkiewicz said. “Everything is clear, and it was a false alarm. No contamination was found on the letter returned to the post office. We followed up with reports the mail piece was suspicious in nature, but all tests came back negative.”

The woman was treated and released late Tuesday afternoon from Medina Memorial Hospital.

Contact editor Jessica Wasmund at 798-1400, ext. 8225

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.