By Dan Hounsell

Pandemic or not, maintenance of critical hospital equipment and systems must go on. But even with the most comprehensive preventive maintenance programs, key components can fail at the least opportune times.

During routine weekly maintenance recently, a generator at Geary Community Hospital (GCH) in Kansas was not operable, according to the JC Post. Hospital officials said they are waiting for parts to repair the equipment.

GCH transferred all patients to surrounding hospitals, and all surgical and elective procedures were cancelled until further notice. The generator problem is believed to have involved a faulty starter. That generator requires two starters to operate. Officials believe that another generator was located in Wichita and was due to be brought to Junction City. King said by the time the rewiring work is completed, they hoped to be back up with the new generator by the middle of the week.