Memorial Hospital lost electricity for several hours Monday afternoon after a contractor doing work on the hospital severed an electrical conduit, hospital officials say.
The contractor was badly burned and had to be transported to a burn center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, according to hospital spokesman Brian Lazenby.
The hospital's power system automatically switched over to backup generators, but air conditioning was lost for more two hours, Lazenby said. Workers installed portable air conditioners in rooms until power gradually was restored, he said.
No emergency procedures were impacted and no patients needed to be evacuated, Lazenby said, but several outpatient procedures had to be postponed.