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BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Dead rodents, h2o leaks and HVAC problems that could perchance spoil aesculapian tests are conscionable immoderate of the problems plaguing the Baltimore City Health Department’s Druid Sexual Health Clinic successful Druid Heights, according to a caller study by the Office of the Inspector General.
During an probe dating backmost to December 2020, inspectors observed dormant rodents and insects successful a proviso room, damaged oregon missing ceiling tiles apt caused by h2o leaks, a damaged entree door, and an extracurricular dumpster that often fills up with trash from adjacent residents and businesses.
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While the wellness section contracted a pest power institution to region aged traps and instal caller ones, a janitorial institution that cleans the gathering refuses to region dormant rodents, the study said.
The heating and cooling strategy successful the gathering astatine 1515 W. North Ave., does not decently modulate the temperature. One wellness section worker reported an indoor somesthesia of 90 degrees successful March 2021, the study said. Multiple workers told the OIG that accelerated tests for HIV and hepatitis C had to beryllium halted connected immoderate days owed to the heat.
“Relevant correspondence obtained by the OIG suggested utmost temperatures could origin inaccurate trial results oregon different interaction due retention of the trial kits,” the study said, noting that manufacturers for accelerated HIV tests and accelerated hepatitis C tests suggest keeping samples successful retention betwixt 35 degrees and 80 degrees and betwixt 36 degrees and 86 degrees, respectively.
Inspectors connected a tract sojourn noticed respective accelerated tests that were marked “expired.”
The conditions are perchance violations of Occupational Health and Safety Administration regulations and agreements betwixt the metropolis and labour unions to “provide employees with a harmless and steadfast workplace,” the study said.
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In a effect letter, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa acknowledged the “infrastructure and operational challenges” of the gathering and said the bureau is moving with the Department of General Services to hole them erstwhile necessary, “which is often.”
The installation has been successful usage for astir six decades, according to Dzirasa.
“The gathering is old, deteriorating, and not up to code,” she wrote. “The somesthesia contented is longstanding owed to the property of the HVAC system.”
Dzirasa confirmed the accelerated tests marked “expired” were caused by the building’s somesthesia but said they are being kept for unit training.
In December 2020, the boiler failed and determination was nary vigor for respective days, starring to the installation of a impermanent unit, Dzirasa said. The bureau has allocated $150,000 for the a partial HVAC strategy upgrade.
Dzirasa besides said pest power astatine the gathering has lapsed owed to “delays successful payments” to the contractor that’s been hired to work the gathering each 2 weeks.
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The Department of General Services is going to behaviour a tract sojourn to “also place and destruct imaginable rodent points of entry,” the wellness commissioner wrote. Additionally, the Department of General Services precocious installed a obstruction astir the wellness clinic’s dumpster to forestall amerciable dumping.
CBS Baltimore Staff
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