Hurricane Irma Impact on the Inpatient Population at a Tertiary Children's Hospital in Florida

Abstract

Hurricane Irma resulted in the evacuation of 6.3 million people in Florida in September, 2017. Our tertiary Children's Hospital activated our incident command center (ICC) 24 hours before storm landfall, and preparations were made to accommodate vulnerable pediatric patients (VPP) or children with medical complexity. Our ICC was active for 92 hours and the hospital was staffed with 467 associates and 40 physicians. Urgent operative and interventional radiology procedures were performed during the storm. Thirteen patients were transferred to our facility and 13 VPP were sheltered. During the lockdown period, our facility operated at 90 per cent capacity inclusive of VPP. Personnel were used in critical areas in the hospital, independent of their base units. There were no adverse outcomes or complications. Timely activation of ICC and deployment of Team A 24 hours before storm hit allowed for safe hospital operations. Planning for the inflow of patients is imperative to allow for preemptive deployment of staff and resources for inpatients, transfers, emergency room admissions, and VPP. VPP should be monitored regionally as they will consume hospital resources during natural disasters and must be accounted for to allow for safe and effective care delivery for all patients.

Communication in disasters to support families with children with medical complexity and special healthcare needs: a rapid scoping review

“…Proactive outreach by professionals when a disaster is anticipated or occurring is recommended ( 13 , 52 ). One example of a proactive approach is described by Hoffman et al, including a patient telephone contact algorithm ( 14 ); proactivity is also at least implied in the Taddei & Bulgheroni’s piece on Italy’s response to COVID-19 ( 53 ). Darlington et al noted from survey data that many parents did feel that inadequate information was offered by their hospitals or clinical teams ( 40 ).…”

“…On the other hand, there are also studies which use more restrictive definitions limiting their scope to subsets of CMC, and so implications for supports and communication needs during disasters might not be generalizable to the larger group of CMC. Examples include Hoffman et al who use both CMC and the term VPP (vulnerable pediatric patient), defined as being those who are technology-dependent ( 14 ). In a 2009 paper, Uscher-Pines et al focus upon the needs of children who require specialized forms of transportation (e.g., who use wheelchairs) ( 15 ).…”

Critical public infrastructure underwater: the flood hazard profile of Florida hospitals

“…Increased flood risk can create issues during extreme weather events by making it difficult for hospitals to operate and provide medical services to people needing emergency care. Florida is susceptible to hurricanes and flash flooding, and during past weather events hospitals have needed to evacuate, a process which can be challenging for staff and risk patient safety (see for example, Hoffman et al, 2018). During Hurricane Katrina, hospitals evacuations because of flooding led to patient deaths (Gray & Hebert).…”

<p>Disaster Preparedness Impact In A Complex Ophthalmology Practice: A Review Of Patients Receiving Intravitreal Injections</p>

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13] One study showed that timely deployment of emergency team and preparedness plan greatly assisted in the effectiveness of care delivery for patients. 8 Furthermore, the lack of preventable errors at hospitals can be attributable to strategic planning. The use of electronic health records has been reported to facilitate access to patient data and made rescheduling process easier.…”