Emergency patients moved after lights go out at NUMC

Four patients in the emergency room at Nassau University Medical Center were moved Tuesday morning after a construction worker hit a pipe that caused the lights to go out in one area, a hospital spokeswoman said.

When the lights went out at about 9 a.m., the patients were moved from the medical area of the emergency department to the surgical area, which was empty, said hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg.

Lights in the rest of the emergency department were not affected and equipment in the medical area continued to function, she said.

Patient care was otherwise not disrupted and the East Meadow hospital was able to continue accepting all emergency patients, Lotenberg said. She estimated lights would be back on at about 1 p.m.