Maintenance issues, new regulations force hospital to remove popular fountain

Officials at Baptist Health Corbin say maintenance issues and regulations regarding open water features inside healthcare facilities have forced the removal of the pond at the main entrance.

“It has started leaking and has become difficult to maintain,” said Mark Steely, Executive Director of Planning and Imaging Services at the hospital adding that the accrediting bodies that oversee the hospital have added new regulations on such features, detailing extra maintenance and additional tests for bacteria that would be required.

The work began last week as part of what Steely described as an effort to make the space more efficient for patients and visitors.

“We are relocating some offices and making the entrance more accessible,” Steely said.

Volunteers with the hospital, who have been tasked with collecting change thrown into the fountain, said while individuals were well-intentioned by throwing the change in, there were buckets of change that had deteriorated so much that banks would not accept it.

“The coin counters would spit it right out,” one volunteer said.

The hospital has set up a spiral wishing well where change may be donated by placing it in a slot and watching spiral down, or by simply dropping in the change.

The Paul Parker addition where the fountain was located, was constructed in 1986.

The fountain was added in 1997.