Hospitals say they’re Y2K-ready

Monday, Dec. 20, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

Southern Nevada hospital officials say they have successfully operated on their Y2K computer concerns and have given the sophisticated equipment a clean bill of health.

"We started to make our computers Y2K compliant two years ago and have checked out 80,000 pieces of equipment," said Ann Lynch, spokeswoman for Sunrise Hospital. "We have upgraded or replaced parts and have developed a strategy for keeping the hospital going.

"Our plan goes so deep that we can lose our main water supply and power (on New Year's Eve and Day) and still be capable of treating our patients."

Douglas Northcutt, spokesman for the University Medical Center, said all three major areas of computer concern have been addressed -- elevators, bio-medical and the computers that maintain the hospital's patient records.

"We began three years ago to upgrade the computers," he said. "We have made 8,000 program changes. We have tested more than 700 systems."

As for medical staffs that are going to utilize the computers to check in patients and provide care for them, New Year's Eve and Day can't come fast enough.

"I am confident we will provide good service and that our hospital will get the job done," said UMC registered nurse Davette Shea. "We have done all we can to prepare and now many of us can't wait for the day to get here and be over."

Lynch couldn't agree more.

"I think the panic for Y2K is over and some people are getting bored with (talk of) it," she said. "I'm confident that we have done everything to make things run smoothly.

"I guess it's either going to be Armageddon or we'll get through it just fine."