Parish hospitals return to normal

Slidell’s Northshore Regional Medical Center evacuated some 90 patients Sunday as Hurricane Gustav approached the area, but officials report the hospital was able to keep operating on normal power as the storm intensified.

“We have a huge 2 Megawatt generator in place but never had to use it,” said NSRMC Associate Administrator Dave Goodson. “We were extremely lucky.”

While some patients were discharged to the care of their families, among those transferred out was a set of triplets housed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The three babies were transported to Women’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, and as of Thursday, were safely en route back to Slidell.

The hospital is part of Washington-St. Tammany Electrical Cooperative’s system. Goodson suggested that WST’s widespread improvements made after Hurricane Katrina three years ago helped the system stay largely operational during Gustav.

Power was fully restored across town at Slidell Memorial Hospital on Tuesday. Patients began returning on Wednesday, and while some units, such as MD Imaging, resumed operations on Thursday, most others should return to full operations by Monday.

According to Sam Caruso Jr., SMH Director of Marketing, the hospital never stopped serving emergency cases.

Elsewhere, Covington’s St. Tammany Parish Hospital enacted its emergency operations at noon Sunday.

The hospital maintains two generators onsite, each independently capable of powering all services, including radiology, surgery, air conditioning, elevators and other power needs. When regular power fails, STPH runs on one main generator and uses the second generator as backup.

The hospital also has a backup to the city water supply to ensure drinking, sanitation, sterilization and all other water needs. Onsite fuel supply powers these resources, and predetermined usage plans ensure appropriate fuel and supply consumption to last five to six days.

In addition, private vendors and government resources are committed in advance to help supply STPH should the hospital remain in emergency operations beyond its stores’ capabilities.

In a statement released Wednesday by STPH, hospital CEO Patti Ellish said the hospital stepped up its level of emergency preparation and planning during the facility’s last expansion.

“We tested those plans and improved them by expanding our communication capabilities,” said Ellish. “We are gratified to learn with Gustav that the plans paid off and our systems met our needs.”

Other facilities, including Lakeview Regional Medical Center in Covington and Louisiana Medical Center & Heart Hospital in Lacombe, began returning to regular operations as soon as the “all clear” was received Tuesday morning.

The Heart Hospital kept all its patients in place during the storm, although four individuals were on standby for mass critical transport in the event both of the hospital’s generators failed. According to Chief Nursing Officer Glenda Dobson, who was onsite for the duration of Hurricane Gustav, there was no interruption in services.

“We went on generator power about 5:30 a.m. Monday and had regular power intermittently all day through Tuesday,” said Dobson. “We’re 35 feet above sea level here, so we’re ideally positioned to keep patients housed here.”

Dobson pointed out that her facility was the only one in the area to perform procedures during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The hospital resumed regular scheduling of patients on Thursday.