Extensive testing will begin this week on the former Reid Hospital campus in Richmond in hopes of finding the cause of chemicals and radiation found at the site, as well as determining if any of those chemicals pose a threat to future development.
Reid Health said in a Tuesday news release the 576-page work plan it recently submitted to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has been approved and testing at the former hospital campus along Chester Boulevard will start in the coming days.
"This brings us closer to learning the facts about the findings on the property and what responsibility, if any, Reid has for further testing or mitigation," Craig Kenyon, Reid president and chief executive officer, said in the release. "If we do (have responsibility), we will address it promptly and accordingly."
Efforts to conduct further testing on the site, which was abandoned by its current owners in 2011 and has since devolved into a blighted hazard, began in August 2015 with Reid's hiring of an outside environmental consulting firm. Environmental Resources Management, a United Kingdom-based firm with offices in Indianapolis, developed the work plan and presented it to IDEM in May, several months after the release of findings in November 2015 from an initial investigation into the property.
The new work plan could determine if certain chemicals found at the site occurred naturally or as a result of development of the grounds. It also outlines Reid's effort to gain a better understanding for any cleanup work that might be required at the site, according to the release. The study is being conducted under the oversight of IDEM, the release said.
IDEM has said that much of the vandalized and often flooded buildings at the property could be of greater concern than any contamination found on the surrounding property.
“The inside of the buildings, which we left in move-in condition, have deteriorated and been vandalized,” Kinyon said. “Of course, these issues were not caused by Reid Health, and it grieves those of us who took care of the buildings in years past that they have been allowed to deteriorate to such poor and hazardous condition.”