Post-Katrina, surgery centers go to the rescue
Post-Katrina, surgery centers go to the rescue
Like many people after Hurricane Katrina, the staff members at HealthSouth St. Augustine (FL) Surgery Center were feeling devastated and helpless.
Robert De La Torre, MD, asked the center’s administrator, Kathleen Floryan, RN, MS, what she was doing that weekend. "I said, Nothing much.’ He said, Let’s go.’"
Floryan and De La Torre couldn’t contact the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or other relief agencies.
"We went without a plan," Floryan says. She e-mailed the boards of nursing and the medical boards in the effected states and faxed the licenses and Drug Enforcement Administration numbers of the staff who were traveling. "I got a note from the Mississippi board that said, Thanks, and God bless,’" Floryan says.
The center sent faxes to the doctor’s offices, radio stations, and the local newspaper letting them know that collections of clothing, canned goods, can openers, and other supplies would be taken from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the Friday after the hurricane.
"People were streaming in," she adds. The center packed bandages, peroxide, hand wash, surgical foam, and sterile supplies, including sterile basins.
Although the center initially planned to take a small trailer with the items collected plus medical supplies, they ended up having to obtain a semi to hold everything, Floryan continues. One staff member’s spouse worked for Tree of Life, a national food distributor with an office in the area. The distributor supplied the truck and a driver.
Although the four staff members initially planned to go to New Orleans, they realized along the way that they probably wouldn’t be able to purchase enough gas to travel that far. A person at a gas station directed them to Waveland, MS. The town had been devastated by surges of water estimated at more than 33 feet, which turned much of the area to rubble, Floryan says.
Staff, who were traveling in an RV, had lost phone contact with the semi, she notes. They waited at the side of the road at the Waveland exit to flag down their truck. In the meantime, a highway patrolman stopped and offered to provide a police escort to the command center once the semi arrived. There, FEMA officials refused to let their group into the restricted area, Floryan says.
However, some Florida Highway Patrol officers who were assisting in the area said, "Follow us." They escorted the staff to a location across the street from the police department and next to the SWAT team. "We were feeling pretty secure," she notes.
The staff put a red cross on the side of the van to indicate they were health care providers, but they had to explain to patients that they weren’t with the American Red Cross. Before they started receiving patients, patients already were banging on the door, she says. The staff treated between 200 and 300 people. Many were wheeled in shopping carts or carried by relatives. Others had been walking for a couple of days.
Many people had cuts or infected feet. In what Floryan describes as "the most miraculous thing," Wal-Mart set up a pharmacy adjunct to the surgery center’s aid area. "It was a marriage made in heaven," she says. "Our doctors wrote prescriptions for antibiotics, and they could fill it."
Also, the center arranged to have tetanus injections overnighted to their location, and they administered more than 200 injections over the weekend.
The staff administered intravenous (IV) fluids to a couple of people who were dehydrated. Another woman would have died without kidney dialysis, the doctors said. The St. Augustine crew had the woman transported by air ambulance to a hospital in Mobile, AL. Other serious cases included someone in respiratory distress who was provided oxygen, and a patient having a grand mal seizure, who was transported to the hospital.
Patients had significant psychological needs and wanted to share the stories of holding onto trees and seeing people drown, Floryan says. In fact, at the police department across the street, officers had to shoot out a window, swim to a flagpole, and then swim to the top of the roof to survive.
The local hospital, Hancock County Hospital in Bay St. Louis, MS, was totally annihilated from 4-5 feet of water that entered the hospital and left dead fish and feces on the floor, Floryan says.
When the surgery center left the area, they deposited about three cases of leftover IV supplies with the hospital. FEMA has set up a MASH unit with an outdoor OR and a small treatment tent for patients, she adds.
It is wonderful to provide immediate response, but the people in the devastated areas will need months to rebuild, Floryan notes. "This help has to keep coming," she says.
Center adopts’ 29 family members
Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery in Reston, VA, took that advice to heart when one of their staff shared that 29 family members had lost most of their homes and possessions in New Orleans.
Three staff members, including a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), a physician, and the RN whose family was in need, traveled to Baton Rouge, LA, where most of the family was staying.
They took a truck loaded with food, clothing, $1,000 — mostly donated by staff — medical supplies, and a backup generator, says Phyllis Chorazy, chief operating officer at Austin-Weston. The staff carried their medical licenses, which allowed them to obtain gas during the trip, and their scrubs.
A physician who was part of the group went to work at a hospital in Baton Rouge, but has since returned, she says.
The other two contacted that hospital, but they were told that personnel weren’t needed. Those nurses are trying to help the "adopted" family relocate and obtain medical assistance for a sick 6-month-old in the family, she says.
"The doctor’s offices, everyone, is overwhelmed," Chorazy adds.
Sources
For more information about disaster assistance, contact:
- Phyllis Chorazy, Chief Operating Officer, Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery 1825 Samuel Morse Drive, Reston, VA 20190. Phone: (703) 893-6168. Fax: (703) 790-3444. E-mail: [email protected].
- Kathleen Floryan, RN, MS, Administrator, HealthSouth St. Augustine Surgery Center, 180 Southpark Blvd., St. Augustine, FL 32086. Phone: (904) 823-1447. E-mail: [email protected].
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