Cape hospitals, restaurants, businesses dealing with water woes

A boil water advisory in Cape Girardeau is not only affecting individuals but hospitals, businesses and restaurants as well.

Hospitals are among the entities changing operations, at least somewhat.

Sally Owen at SoutheastHEALTH said the issue is forcing some operational changes.

"Southeast Hospital is maintaining near normal operations in light of the city's water main break and ongoing repair," she said in an emailed statement. "Patient care is uninterrupted on all units. Elective procedures at the hospital were canceled today and are being rescheduled."

Owen reported that Cape Girardeau Fire Department and Millersville Fire Department personnel filled and refilled the hospital's portable water tanks, helping alleviate any possible shortages.

The hospital asked for help curtailing patient visitors Tuesday.

"The hospital is asking that visitation be kept at a minimum today and possibly beyond due to limited water pressure in restrooms," Owen said. "We appreciate the diligence, flexibility and efforts of the SoutheastHEALTH team as they navigate these challenges."

Saint Francis Healthcare System officials employed similar practices.

"Normal operations at Saint Francis Medical Center have been significantly impacted. Today (Tuesday), all elective procedures and surgeries, MRI imaging studies and lab studies are postponed and being rescheduled. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates as available," a social media post reads.

Businesses

Aaron Geis, manager of Culver's, said the issue forced significant changes at the restaurant.

"We are not able to use any of our soda fountains or any of our ice or tea urns or hot coffee," he noted. "We can't serve drinks in our traditional way. So instead, we are buying cans of soda and offering a limited selection of drinks via cans of soda. Our beverage supplier, Pepsi MidAmerica, is going to be bringing us a large shipment of some cans over the next couple of days or at least until the boil water advisory is lifted."

Geis said cooks are using bottled water to cook food items.

Safety is a big concern, he added.

"As far as washing our hands, I checked with the local health department, and as long as we have hand sanitizer available for both our guests and team members, after we wash our hands then use hand sanitizer, we should be good from that standpoint," he said. "From a dishwashing standpoint, our dishwasher has sanitizer and a water heater booster attached, so we are able to sanitize and clean all of our dishes. ... Bathrooms are open to the public, we have notices on all of our bathrooms on the mirrors just reminding people of the boil water advisory and advise them to apply hand sanitizer after they wash their hands after using the restroom."

Restaurants that heavily rely on water are using bottled water.

"We're open, and we are using bottled water," reported Suzanne Hightower, owner of Speakeasy Coffee Co. "Since the coffee and espresso is heated quite heavily, that's OK, and then we use milk for most of our products. We are also able to serve cold brew coffee, since we had plenty of water set aside before the water main break happened."

Other businesses are adapting to having no safe water.

"We are being effected by it totally," said Shonda Babers, manager of Kidd's on Broadway. "About half of our business we can't do. Of course, we can't sell anything that involves water — so none of our smoothies, coffees, gourmet drinks. We can't use any of that at the moment."

Babers said customer reaction has been mixed.

"Some complain. Some are understanding," she said. "It's been messing our whole day up."

John Abernathy, human resources manager at Pepsi MidAmerica distributors in Cape Girardeau, said the company is mobilizing additional bottled water shipments.

"We've been getting calls from every local Walmart, basically all the stores and restaurants in the area, because they are not able to use their fountain drink stations," he said. "We are getting two trucks sent down from our bottling plant in Marion, Illinois, full of pallets of bottled water. They will be arriving today (Tuesday). Each truck carries 26 pallets. Since Cape is the only area affected, it shouldn't be a huge problem for us to keep up with the demand."

Long-term care facilities

Chelsie Reagan of The Chateau Girardeau said the facility is operating under existing emergency plans

"When we first got word about the water main breaking, we triggered our disaster plan and that includes water supply," she explained. "Our maintenance team was on site last night making sure everything was OK and checking on the residents. Of course, it's a challenge for all of us right now, but fortunately we have an ample supply of clear water resources. So, all of our residents will have sufficient water for as long as the boil water advisory continues."

Pamela Ogels, director of marketing and community development at Lutheran Home, said the facility's emergency plan calls for several days of water supply to be on hand.

"We always keep 300 or more 5-gallon containers of emergency water supply at all times. We generally are able to survive three to five days without having any issues," she said. "Our residents in independent living are able to boil their own water in their homes. ... When you have a situation like this, it's concerning. We have a lot of people here who rely on us. It's part of our responsibility to be able to take care of them in any kind of unforeseen circumstances."

Rick Fahr contributed to this story.