by Thomas Breen
Roughly 50 gallons of a coolant chemical called glycol spilled from the second floor to the first floor of a Sargent Drive medical-office building Monday — leaving the building’s health clinics closed for the day and requiring patients to seek care elsewhere.
That chemical spill took place at 150 Sargent Dr., which opened in October 2020 as a “one stop shop” primary care hub. The property is owned by Yale New Haven Health (YNHH), which operates the building alongside the city’s two federally qualified health centers, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and Fair Haven Community Health Care.
Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center CEO Michael Taylor and Fair Haven Community Health Care CEO Suzanne Lagarde both to the Independent in separate phone interviews Monday that their respective 150 Sargent health clinics should be up and running again on Tuesday, despite Monday’s closure.
They both expressed relief that the chemical that was spilled was glycol and not the more-toxic bromide, as was initially feared.
Both said that their clinics’ respective 150 Sargent patients were redirected to other buildings — on Columbus Avenue for Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and on Grand Avenue for Fair Haven Community Health Care — or to telehealth.
Taylor said that the glycol that was spilled was “part of the [150 Sargent] building’s HVAC system,” and was not a chemical used in a medical context.
City Fire Chief Danny Coughlin told the Independent that city firefighters responded to 150 Sargent Dr. at around 8:28 a.m. Monday on the report of a chemical spill.
When they arrived on scene, Coughlin said, firefighters were told by building staff that there had been a “bromide spill” in the building. The building was evacuated of all patients and staff as fire department staff made a “hazardous-material entry.” Coughlin said that two employees were sent to Yale New Haven Hospital for a “precautionary evaluation,” and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) was called in to support.
Further investigation revealed that the chemical that spilled at 150 Sargent was not bromide; “it was actually glycol,” Coughlin said. That chemical has a number of uses, including in antifreeze. “It’s a less hazardous chemical than bromide,” he said.
Coughlin said that, while the leak was discovered Monday morning, it appears to have taken place over the weekend, potentially because of an “issue” with the liquid’s container. He said that 50 gallons of glycol “saturated carpets” in the building, and that an environmental-cleanup company was en route Monday afternoon.
Coughlin said that the building will definitely be closed for the rest of the day. He also said that no one was injured by the spill.
Fair Haven Health’s Lagarde told the Independent that the spill did not impact her clinic’s part of the 150 Sargent Dr. building. She said Fair Haven Health “will be open for business as usual” at 150 Sargent Dr. on Tuesday.
With “precaution being the order of the day,” Lagarde said that Fair Haven Health rescheduled some appointments and directed some patients and staff to the clinic’s main building at 374 Grand Ave. Monday “to minimize patient disruption.”
Taylor said that Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center will have “some limited capacity on the first floor” of 150 Sargent on Tuesday “as we clean up the results of the spill. We will cordon off those areas.” Otherwise, his organization’s clinic will be open for business, too.
“It’s a bit of a scare,” he said about Monday’s spill. “Our first priority was people’s safety. We immediately evacuated the building and allowed people to go back in [only] to retrieve their belongings,” while helping patients reschedule appointments.
A security guard at 150 Sargent Dr. stood outside the building’s front entrance at around 12:30 p.m. Monday, telling people as they walked from their parked cars to the clinic that the building was closed.