Hospitals and other healthcare facilities on Florida’s Gulf Coast – still reeling from Hurricane Helene – are now on pace for Hurricane Milton.
The system, which is shaping up to be one of the most powerful to hit the region in years, is projected to make landfall just south of the Tampa area late Wednesday. Long-term care facilities in counties where mandatory evacuations have been issued are taking their patients elsewhere, while hospitals are largely on standby, preparing to stay open through the storm.
According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ website10 hospitals reported evacuations as of Tuesday afternoon. Three hundred health facilities have been evacuated since this morning, most of the staff who work there could remember, said the assistant secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Administration Kim Smoak. This count included 63 nursing homes and 169 assisted living facilities.
Steve McCoy, chief of the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Oversight, said it’s the “largest evacuation in the state.”
Health officials are using nearly 600 vehicles to get patients out of the storm’s path, tracking them with blue wristbands that show where they have been evacuated and where they have been sent. They plan to keep patients outside overnight, until winds reach sustained speeds of 40 mph and driving conditions become unsafe.
“I’ve lived on the Gulf Coast my whole life and in Sarasota for 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said David Verinder, CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. “Our anxiety is high, but we are as ready as we know how to be.”
Tampa General Hospital stocked more than five days of supplies, including food, linens and 5,000 gallons of water, in addition to an on-site well. In the event of a power outage, the hospital also has a power plant with generators and boilers located 33 feet above sea level.
Tampa General implemented an “aquafence” to successfully prevent storm flooding during Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. The barrier will be up again when Milton makes landfall and can withstand a 15-foot storm surge. The U.S. National Hurricane Center estimates that Milton’s surge will be 10 to 15 feet at its peak.
No one will be working on the first floor of Tampa General Hospital for the foreseeable future — just in case.
“While AquaFence has proven effective in the past, it is only the first line of defense and one of many mitigation efforts we are implementing this week to safely continue caring for our patients,” said Jennifer Crabtree, chief of Tampa General staff.
The Tampa health system has closed many urgent care and imaging facilities, but its four hospital campuses are poised to stay open through the storm.
HCA Florida Healthcare, one of the state’s largest health care networks, has evacuated patients from five hospitals to sister facilities. HCA Florida hospitals closed are Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg, Largo West Hospital in Largo, Florida Englewood Hospital in Englewood, West Tampa Hospital in Tampa and Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, where strong winds and flooding. caused major damage in 2022 during Hurricane Ian.
AdventHealth North Pinellas evacuated its 40 patients Tuesday afternoon, transferring them to nearby hospitals within its health system. The hospital’s emergency department remains open. Randy Haffner, CEO and president of AdventHealth Florida, said in an emailed statement that the system is “as prepared as we can be with water, generators, sandbags, satellite phones and the best caregivers that there are.”
Hospitals are closed nearby, but Sarasota Memorial Health Care System also plans to stay open through the storm and shelter in place, Verinder said. Still, “we are concerned about the many unknowns,” he said.
Verinder estimates that the system, stocked with enough food, water, clothing and medication for at least seven days and 200,000 gallons of fuel, will be expected to house and support more than 4,000 people during the hurricane, even if they are already nearby to the capacity.
More than 2,500 staff members are preparing for multiple nights in the hospital starting Tuesday, so Sarasota Memorial is providing childcare and animal shelters on its campuses.
“We are not a designated medical shelter, but we work with the county to care for medically dependent people assigned to the hospital because of the acuteness of their needs … and patients evacuated from other hospitals in the region “, he said.
Dr. Matt Shannon, director of community emergency medicine at the University of Florida Health, said the state’s flagship is ready to take patients.
“The emergency department … we never shut down,” he said. “We have five emergency departments, which are all open and functioning. This is not our first rodeo – we’ve been through this many times before.”
Repeated hurricane seasons have hardened Florida facilities and prepared for Milton, said Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association. However, the sheer power of Hurricane Milton and the back-to-back nature of the storms affected “a broad swath of the state and hospitals.”
“It increases the vulnerabilities in the area, from flooding to clogged drains to debris that hasn’t been removed that can worsen a situation that is already predicted to be catastrophic,” Mayhew said. “Area hospitals routinely prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
In a briefing Tuesday, state officials and representatives of the long-term care industry urged nursing homes and assisted living facilities to prepare for long power outages, damage to sewer systems and unable to access electronic health records.
“We want to remind you that all emergencies are local,” said Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Healthcare Association, which represents nursing homes and assisted living providers in the state. “You need to start with your local emergency office to report any questions you may have.”
Florida’s west coast, which includes Pinellas, Manatee and Hillsborough counties, has the highest concentration of nursing centers in the state, said Florida Health Association spokeswoman Kristen Knapp.
“Based on what has been reported, at a minimum we are talking about 5,000-6,000 nursing home residents who have evacuated,” Knapp said in an email.
In counties under state of emergency orders, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are required to have enough emergency generator fuel to power life-saving equipment and maintain indoor temperatures at a safe level for 96 hours.
Deborah Franklin, a member of the Florida Health Association’s emergency response team, said the centers should print residents’ documents, including medications, dietary restrictions and more, even if they are not in the worst of the hurricane’s path. She also urged staff to consider the mental health of their residents, some of whom are moving for the second time in just a few weeks.
“You have to address — after the storm or even during the storm — trauma-informed care for these residents,” Franklin said. “They may be worried about their families. They may be worried about having a home to come back to.”
Lillie Whiting, 67, said she has no plans to evacuate the assisted living facility where she lives just blocks from the bay in Clearwater. But it might have to pack up anyway, if Magnolia Manor staff determines that residents need to be moved to another facility across town.
“We may have to evacuate, but they doubt it, saying we’ll see what happens,” Whiting said. “If we do, they have somewhere else we can go.”
The retired housewife took advantage of the clear weather Tuesday afternoon to get some fresh air, supported by the walker she uses to get around. She became more nervous as Hurricane Milton barreled toward the Gulf Coast, but said she felt confident the facility would take care of her and the other residents.
“A little scared,” he said. “But I pray all the time.”
Shannon from UF Health said most people with lung problems who rely on oxygen at home have backup oxygen bottles prepared, and some new devices even have backup batteries.
But he is concerned about the elderly and those living in rural areas.
“We see them in the emergency room when backups fail or they don’t have access to a generator,” Shannon said.
Dialysis facilities across the state are also trying to provide shortened treatments to as many patients as possible before closing due to the storm.
“Helene, they were able to get it back up and running pretty quickly. But with the wind, this could be a different kind of event,” said Helen Rose of the Health Services Advisory Group, which helps coordinate the disaster response. for renal patients. The network has established a telephone helpline and maintains an updated list of facilities open during and after the storm.
___
Associated Press Florida Statehouse reporter Kate Payne in Tampa contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.