Truly a team effort

“Never in my career have I seen such levels of excellence as were displayed by North Oaks team members during the crisis period of Hurricane Katrina,” asserts Hammond’s North Oaks Chief Executive Officer James E. Cathey Jr. “They demonstrated remarkable skill and determination in using every means possible to keep our hospitals up and running and to fulfill our responsibilities to administer to the health care needs of the people of this region. The effort, compassion, care, teamwork, commitment and dedication shown made me extremely proud to be associated with each and every one of them.”

Every member of the North Oaks management team echoed these sentiments when they unanimously voted to choose the more than 600 health system employees who worked tirelessly throughout Hurricane Katrina as Employees of the Month for August.

While elective procedures and outpatient services were canceled ahead of Katrina’s arrival and fully reinstituted by one week post-Katrina, essential emergency and inpatient care at North Oaks Medical Center continued without interruption throughout the storm and into the recovery period. Patient care also never wavered at North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital.

“This was made possible by implementation of a comprehensive disaster plan,” says North Oaks Risk Management Coordinator Sherry Collura, RN. “We kept in close contact and worked with the parish’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, as well as other local, state, federal and military authorities. Other components of our plan put into action included the provision of on-site shelter accommodations for essential personnel and the foresight of staff members to order ample supplies in advance to ensure we could weather the storm and the recovery period.”

No patients had to be transferred to other facilities, according to Chief Nursing Officer Paula Hymel, RN, BSN. Back-up generators at both facilities kept critical medical equipment fully functional—despite an almost immediate power outage that occurred around 5:30 a.m. the morning of Katrina’s landfall.
“I will always remember the sound of the generator running,” recounts Plant Operations Coordinator Russell Hoover. “We slept in our offices on the floor, and we were in tune with the sounds of the generator at all times to make sure it wouldn’t go out or overheat.”

Even the Nutritional Services staff pulled out a team effort, as they managed to dish up over 10,000 hot meals in the 96-hour timeframe without power from Sunday, August 28 to Wednesday, August 31. “By the grace of God, we never had to go to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” comments North Oaks Nutritional Services Director Ann McDaniel.

In another example, an Emergency Department Staff Nurse used “curbside triage” to assess patients’ needs when the ER became inundated the day after the storm. Even with a generator providing power to fans, it felt hotter inside than outside. So, the nurse met incoming patients at their air-conditioned cars, where he took vital signs and determined needs. Many children and elderly patients were suffering from heat exhaustion or heat stroke, and there were several patients with injuries from chainsaws that first day. He worked quickly to assess each situation, while trying desperately to keep each person comfortable. Undoubtedly, his 16 years of combined experience as a medic on active duty and in the U.S. Army National Guard helped him adapt to the unusual circumstances of the day.

Even in the face of tragic personal loss, staff members continued to reach out to patients’ physical, emotional, spiritual and material needs. When employees of Maternal/Child Services learned that a displaced Chalmette couple, who had given birth to a daughter at North Oaks, had lost their home and its contents—including many items for the nursery—to floodwaters, they began bringing baby gifts. Their room at North Oaks overflowed with love and happiness, despite the personal losses the family had sustained. Overwhelmed with the outpouring of support, new mom Sharon Licciardi remarked, “They don’t know me, and yet, here they are going out of their way to help our family. We are truly blessed.”

A busy launching pad

Accounts from Covington’s Lakeview Regional Medical Center were similar in theme to those in Hammond. Hospital Chief Executive Officer Max Lauderdale described the site as a “self-contained city,” complete with generator power, water supply and a four-day supply of food that had been stored before the storm. The 120 staff residents of the Lakeview “city,” including approximately 30 physicians, worked up to 20-hour shifts in the days following the hurricane.

Lauderdale says the greatest impact on the hospital was in those first few days, as the site’s helicopter launch pad was a seeming revolving door for emergency drop-offs. “At one point, we had five helicopters on campus,” remembers Lauderdale. One of the emergency drop-offs was a young boy who was found in New Orleans, wading in water by himself. His legs were infected, and he was admitted to Lakeview for treatment. His family could not be contacted, so Lauderdale went up to the boy’s room every morning to check on him and visit a while. After a few days, the boy’s godmother was found in Shreveport and the hospital sent a helicopter to bring her down to Covington. “It was such a good feeling to be a part of it all, to be helping people,” Lauderdale adds.

After the hectic and demanding week following the storm, Lauderdale says that he could still hear the sound of helicopters in his sleep. He has nothing but praise and thanks for the soldiers who ran the search and rescue missions. “They were truly men of their word and got us so much help,” he says. The soldiers must have agreed with Lauderdale’s sentiment. One afternoon, he heard the all-too-familiar sound of the chopper and gazed out his office window to find one landing right there in the grass. A crew that had just completed their assignment was flying back east to Fort Polk in Texas. They went out of their way to stop by the hospital to thank the staff for such wonderful assistance with their mission.