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Story of Health Care Under Pressure of a Hurricane is Uplifting
Author: | Saturday July 04, 2009
Kim Ryan was COO at Tulane Medical Center when Hurricane Katrina arrived.
Storm Before the Calm
How One Hospital Survived
Nightmare of Hurricane Katrina
By Ray Brasted
With the calm reminiscent of the calm at the eye of a hurricane, former Chief Operating Officer of Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans, Kim Ryan, recounted a story of survival during and after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city in August of 2005.
As the current CEO of Emory Eastside Medical Center in Atlanta, Ryan was invited to talk to members of the Georgia Self Insurance Association (GSIA) at their annual conference in Savannah, GA. The audience got more than a routine talk a luncheon speaker usually provides. Instead, they heard a story they will likely never forget, and a cautionary tale for everyone.
The story began on Friday, Aug. 26 when a tropical storm formed in the Atlantic, like many storms do during hurricane season. The bulletins went up the beginning of parents' weekend at the teaching hospital, and students and faculty were preparing for the occasion. In their offices, Ryan and her staff, following protocol, began preparing for the "what if"? of a major storm.
They did not have long to prepare, because by Saturday, Aug. 27, the storm had been upgraded to a category three hurricane and New Orleans was in the forecast cone for landfall. Students and parents were sent home, generators were checked and the staff went on twelve hour shifts. An 18-wheeler was brought in with back up generators.
Landfall Nears
Sunday, Aug. 28, just 24 hours before projected landfall, the more seriously ill patients were moved to higher floors and life support systems were moved to one area. "We calculated the load that would be on the generators as back-up for heart pumps and ventilators," Ryan explained.
All was going according to plan but then the storm passed and the real trauma began as the levies began to break. Generators in the basement went out because of flooding.
The treatment load was increased when a number of "fragile patients" that had been at the Super Dome football stadium were brought into the medical center. These individuals included quadriplegics, most of whom had no power in their power chairs.
Lost of the generators meant there were no lights, no elevators and no water. Obese patients, weighing as much as 450 pounds had to be carried by staff down hospital stairwells.
Gangs were running in the streets, shots were heard and hospital staff housed in nearby hotels had to be brought into the medical center for their safety, adding to the burden of housing hundreds of people with no water, power or toilet paper.
"Because of the rising water we had to make plans to evacuate," Ryan said. There were challenges in communicating their need and finding a helicopter that could land on the roof of the medical center. Finally a "Black Hawk" helicopter began coming in to take out the patients. Neo-natal patients were first.
"People in the streets were shooting at the helicopter as it tried to land so we stopped nighttime evacuation," Ryan said. "We asked for automatic weapons and the staff began wearing bullet proof vests." Sharp shooters were brought in.
Worse Night was Last Night
By Thursday, Sept. 1 of that week, the hospital ran out of oxygen. It was the worst night since the ordeal began. But it was the last night. On Sept. 2, the military arrived. "I was never prouder of our military men and women as I was on that day," Ryan said. They took control of a situation that had spiraled to the brink of total anarchy. The larger Chinook helicopters were able to evacuate more people.
After over a week of tribulation, staff could turn their attention to their own lives and family. "We were able to see the extent of the flooding for the first time," Ryan said. Eighty percent of the medical center employees lost everything they owned.
The medical center lost no patients to the storm.
Ed. Note: Today Tulane Medical Center Downtown is a for profit facility and has 235 licensed beds and 1,400 full time employees. It was the first hospital to reopen after Hurricane Katrina.
Emory Eastside Medical Center is a 210 bed, acute care medical center located in Snellville, GA.
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