Scaffolding will surround the Coulombé Family Tower at Portland’s Main Medical Center on Thursday, but repairs will continue between the old, lower part of the tower and the new second floor. (Gregory REC/Staff Photographer)
Portland’s Main Health Main Medical Center has struggled in recent years to keep bats out of hospital neonatal intensive care units, and filed a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration last year.
Hospital officials said Thursday they were working on “occasional intrusions from bats.”
Despite efforts to control bats at Coulombe Family Tower, where the NICU and Critical Care Nursery are located, hospital officials have confirmed seven bat sightings this year.
Employees filed an OSHA complaint about bats in June 2024, and since then the hospital has launched many steps to prevent them from entering the hospital. This includes replacing the façade of John Porter, Coulombé Family Tower, as mentioned in a statement by Main Health spokesman John Porter.
OSHA’s complaints have since been resolved, Porter said.
“OSHA has accepted MaineHealth Maine Medical Center’s Corrective Action Plan. No fines have been issued and necessary notices have been posted,” Porter said in a statement. OSHA officials on Friday confirmed that the hospital dealt with the complaints and the lawsuit was closed.
“No known patient or staff bites,” Porter said, adding, “All bats arrested have been tested for rabies, and they were all negative.”
“Rabies patients and workers were not tested for rabies.
The last known human case of Maine rabies was reported in 1937according to the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the latest statistics available from the Main CDC, 10 bats tested positive for rabies in 2024 were tested statewide. Testing of bats captured at Maine Med was conducted by Maine CDC Labs, Porter said.
A nurse at Mainmed, who is knowledgeable about the situation, told the news agency Herald that workers had complained about bats in the Coulombe family’s tower for many years, and hospital officials responded slowly.
Employees asked to remain anonymous about concerns being retaliated by hospital administrators for their remarks.
“After the OSHA complaint, I think they’re working on solving it now, but they were starting to do anything about it,” she said.
About a week after it was submitted in 2023, MaineHealth to OSHA letters from MaineHealth to OSHA pointed to the bat issue dating back to 2023. Bat invasion into hospitals accelerated in 2024 – in six sightings – could have been linked to bats in the location where repairs were being made to the building, according to a letter obtained based on female har.
The media Herald shared a copy of the letter with Porter on Thursday. “In addition to the continued pestilence work by contractors, Main Health Main Medical Center is currently undergoing a facade renovation project at Coulombé Family Tower,” Porter said in a statement.
Employees said MaineHealth should have notified the public about BAT issues. “We’re talking about a newborn baby in particular.”
The scaffolding surrounds the main medical center, but repair work continues between the old lower part of the Coulombé Family Tower and the two new upper levels. The hospital is replacing the facade of the building as part of its efforts to prevent bats from entering the building. (Gregory REC/Staff Photographer)
Porter explained why the public was not notified last year, saying Main Health “relies on regulatory bodies, including OSHA,” and “determined what disclosures are required to care teams, patients and the public when an incident of this nature occurs.
According to a June 2024 letter from MaineHealth to OSHA, the hospital will protect patients and temporarily close some of the emergency care nursery. This is a unit where the baby needs specialized care but is in a condition less severe than that of a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit.
Other steps include sealing up various areas to prevent bats from entering and preventing pest control measures such as heating and air conditioning ducts that can cause bats to enter.
Porter said in 2024 the hospital “responded by moving staff and patients and working with contractors to minimize bat intrusions.”
The hospital “continues to work with the Occupational Safety and Health Agency to take all the necessary steps to protect patients and care team members,” Porter said.
There are bat populations in the northeastern part It has been rebounded in recent yearsAfter learning in the 2010s that bats have better avoided places where the fungi that are depopulating populations have grown.
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