Another request to the Texas governor’s office put two C130 cargo planes at their disposal. Staff were given three options: Stay at the hospital, leave of their own accord, or take the C130 to shelter in Houston. One-hundred-thirty-one staff members chose the latter option and left Thursday; the same planes brought them back the following Monday.
During the storm, UTMB’s ED remained open and staffed. It was the only operating ED for miles. A burn victim and several firemen who were harmed fighting a tremendous blaze during the storm on Friday proved that remaining open was the right thing to do to for the community.
Although UTMB lost some equipment, blocks of air conditioning, and some power, administrators believe that they made good decisions and emerged almost unscathed.
“I never felt prouder of our staff,” says Dr. Sexton. “This will be a different place because we all did this together.”
Less than a week later, they continue to treat patients from the community, have started admitting patients, and have welcomed some of their critically ill neonates back.
Conclusion
Who believes weather analysts? Often, we look at unwelcome weather forecasts and dismiss them, thinking that it always sounds worse than it is. Hospitalists and healthcare providers who weathered Katrina and Rita, and who are still working with the aftermath are probably more apt to listen to future dire weather predictions. “Lessons for Hospitalists from the 2005 Hurricane Season” (left) summarizes some of the lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane season to date. Every hospital will have to look at disaster plans and make changes based on what we’ve learned. Self-sufficiency for 48 hours is probably a less-than-ambitious goal; we may need to think in terms of planning for a week or more. Certainly, hospitalists will need to take leadership roles. TH
Contributor Jeannette Wick, RPh, MBA, is a senior clinical research pharmacist at the NIH in Bethesda, Md. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of any government agency.