(NewsNation) — More than 1,000 people were evacuated from hospitals in Florida as Hurricane Ian tore through the state Wednesday. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities also scrambled to evacuate residents.
“Residents are very frail. They have complex medical issues; this can be a very scary situation for them,” said Kristen Knapp of the Florida Healthcare Association. “So part of … our training is trauma-informed care.”
To tackle transfer trauma, nursing homes are trying to keep staffing consistent as to not make storm anxiety worse with strange faces.
“Our caregivers have shown time and again, through COVID, through past hurricanes, they are heroes,” Knapp said.
At HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, a doctor documented the storm surge infiltrating the first floor emergency room. Staffers built a wall to hold back the floodwaters and there was major roof damage to the fourth floor.
The biggest challenge facing several hospitals in southwest Florida: “They are without water because of the damage to the public water supply,” said Mary Mayhew, CEO of the Florida Hospital Association.
Mayhew said Lee Memorial Hospital just off the Caloosahatchee River is evacuating due to a complete loss of water. In Inglewood, 50 miles to the north, the hospital there is suspending operations and transferring all patients.
“Where there is a need to evacuate patients, we have hospitals around the state who have been offering beds, who have been offering ambulances, air transport, in order to support this timely and safe evacuation of patients,” Mayhew said.