Area hospitals prepare in calm before predicted storms

Local hospitals, whether private or public, say they’re ready for this year’s hurricane season.

“Each hospital has evaluated their emergency plans and re-evaluated them since the wake of Hurricane Katrina. And they’re ready to face what may come down the pipe this hurricane season,” said LSU Health Care Services Division Communications and Media Relations director Marvin McGraw.

The LSU Health Care Services Division includes eight hospitals, one of which is Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center.

“Emergency preparedness is a year round task. Each year we invest in our facility to reduce the chance that our service will be interrupted by a storm,” said Terrebonne General Medical Center CEO and President Phyllis Peoples. “We have a dedicated staff that works hard so that we are prepared and our patients are safe. We are ready.”

The hospitals have learned some hard lessons from Katrina, prompting a change from the usual thinking to just shelter in place.

“Things have changed since Katrina and we think that the best course of action is to have the option as to whether or not to evacuate,” said McGraw.

Each hospital administrator and their staff on site in their system will make a decision based on facts at the time as to whether to evacuate their hospital in the LSU system, according to McGraw.

“We are prepared. We stay prepared, quite frankly, in this part of the country,” said Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center administrator Larry Walker. “Our desire, if we feel it’s safe, is to shelter in place. But certainly, we’re not going to take any chances.”

This doesn’t mean Chabert would be emptied before a severe storm. Walker said he has a skeleton crew that is expected to be at the hospital during an emergency event.

And he and his staff have specific criteria as to whether or not they will evacuate, but he also admitted the criteria for evacuation aren’t black and white.

“If we are faced with the danger of an approaching storm, the more severe and the more likely the storm would hit Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, the more we will work to reduce the number of patients and staff who are exposed to the danger,” said Peoples. “We do not serve as a shelter for the special needs or the general population.”

Peoples said Terrebonne General would work within regional and state agency plans.

“We have built systems to maintain service in the most difficult conditions, but Katrina has taught us that we all need to be prudent and remove ourselves from the risk of a storm,” said Peoples.

McGraw has a similar perspective.

“Probably the biggest lesson that we’ve learned is don’t wait for the Calvary. In other words, don’t wait to be rescued. I think that’s a direct result of what happened at Charity,” said McGraw. “We’re going to be proactive in our preparations.”

The LSU system contracted a Kansas-based company, Emergency Response, to facilitate evacuation from Chabert, as well as other hospitals in the LSU system.

Walker said the company would have a specially designed bus parked at Chabert for the duration of the hurricane season. The bus is designed to be able to safely and securely shelter and evacuate anywhere from 19 to 40 patients.

The hospitals seem to have a good stock of storm supplies, too, with plans to get more in just before a storm hits.

Peoples said her hospital has in place an automatic delivery of supplies. Supplies will be delivered to her hospital 60 hours before a storm in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to make landfall.

“We have in place, automatic deliveries of supplies that are to be delivered when a storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, 60 hours before estimated landfall,” said Peoples.

And despite the increased patient volume Chabert has taken on since Katrina, Walker remains confident his hospital is well stocked.

“We’re prepared now with supplies and materials to operate for probably several days, several weeks even, at an increased capacity if need be,” said Walker.

Peoples urges everyone to make their own evacuation plans in advance of a storm and not to wait until the last minute to do so.

“My advice for everyone is to take advantage of the time and all of the hurricane preparedness information available to you and your families now,’ said Peoples. “I must emphasize the word now, as most of what you can do to prepare your home and family for a hurricane can be done today.”