{"id":33180,"date":"2024-10-09T02:56:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T07:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=33180"},"modified":"2024-10-31T21:27:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T02:27:46","slug":"how-hospitals-in-miltons-path-are-preparing-for-the-hurricane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=33180","title":{"rendered":"How hospitals in Milton’s path are preparing for the hurricane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida<\/a>, the staff at Sarasota Memorial Hospital is getting ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility, in Sarasota, about an hour south of Tampa, is in the path of the hurricane but isn\u2019t evacuating<\/a> because it\u2019s both the largest and the safest hospital in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably on the highest ground in Sarasota and we\u2019re the largest hospital,\u201d said David Verinder, the president and CEO of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. \u201cWe just have way too many patients to take care of.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verinder estimates that there could be 4,000 to 5,000 people \u2014 patients and staff members \u2014 on site at their its locations when the hurricane hits. The main hospital, Sarasota Memorial, is the largest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare, the hospital system has ordered enough food and water for at least seven days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have linens, you know, everything that you\u2019ll need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t guarantee that we\u2019ll have anybody be able to make any deliveries through the weekend. So we\u2019re at least planning for seven days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospital staff members will work in two main shifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A team, which includes a couple hundred physicians, will stay at the hospital through the duration of the storm, Verinder said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be prepared to sleep and rotate shifts for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the storm has passed, the B team will come in. That\u2019s what makes Verinder nervous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope they\u2019re safe,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope they\u2019re safe and that they can come in and relieve the A team. And if they can\u2019t get through the roads, the downed power lines, the A team will continue to work until they\u2019re relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the while, the hospital will offer child care and a pet shelter so that staff members can bring their kids and pets, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At AdventHealth Tampa Emergency Department, Dr. Alex Waldman, 35, is part of the B team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waldman, who is the associate medical director of the emergency department, will come in after the storm passes to relieve the A team workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He knows how challenging that can be; he also worked the B team shift during Hurricane Helene<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re running into issues, as we did, unfortunately with Helene, where some people are flooded in<\/a>, can\u2019t make it to work, then we need to be a little bit nimble and make sure that we have our shifts filled,\u201d said Waldman, who is serving as the director of the storm in the emergency department. \u201cBut we have backup providers and surge providers all prepared, should they be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farther south, in Fort Myers, the A team at Lee Health hospitals, part of the Southwest Florida Hospital System, reported to their locations on Tuesday, a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospitals are staying open for patients, though elective procedures scheduled between Tuesday and Thursday have been rescheduled, the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one facility, the Skilled Nursing Facility, which is located in a low-lying area, about 100 patients have been evacuated out of an abundance of caution, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Lee Health employee, Monica Collins, the director of respiratory therapy at Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital of Southwest Florida, sent her family to Miami ahead of the storm.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins went through Hurricane Ian<\/a> two years ago and understands the toll these storms can take on a community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her house is located in a part of Fort Myers known to flood, and she said she\u2019s worried that she won\u2019t have a house after the storm, a fear shared by much of her staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Ian, while Collins was working at the hospital, she lost communication with her family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot knowing what happened, what was happening to them, was extremely stressful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, with her family in Miami, she can fully commit to her job working in the hospital\u2019s emergency operations command center while also checking in with her staff members, making sure they have everything they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waldman, from Tampa, has a wife and two young kids, a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old. In addition, his two college-age cousins and their parents will stay with his family. He\u2019s preparing his house for the storm and bolting the hurricane shutters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a lifelong Floridian, but I\u2019ve been in Florida six years now, and I think that\u2019s something that makes this one feel a little bit different,\u201d Waldman said. \u201cThe rapid succession of the back-to-back storms and then just this trajectory for the second storm really coming in and looking like it\u2019s going to make a direct impact. You know, it\u2019s concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, the staff at Sarasota Memorial Hospital is getting ready. The facility, in Sarasota, about an hour south of Tampa, is in the path of the hurricane but isn\u2019t evacuating because it\u2019s both the largest and the safest hospital in the area. \u201cWe\u2019re probably on the highest ground in Sarasota and we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5784],"tags":[2258,21395,30738,30739,1238],"class_list":["post-33180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-hospital","tag-hurricane","tag-milton","tag-preparedness","tag-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33182,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180\/revisions\/33182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}