Hospitals and other healthcare facilities across Florida’s Gulf Coast, still reeling from Hurricane Helen, are now preparing for Hurricane Milton.
The system, which is shaping up to be one of the strongest to hit the region in years, is expected to make landfall a little south of the Tampa area Wednesday evening. Long-term care facilities in counties where mandatory evacuations were imposed are taking their patients elsewhere, while hospitals are largely on guard, preparing to stay open during the storm.
According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ website, 10 hospitals reported evacuations as of Tuesday afternoon. Three hundred health care facilities were evacuated this morning, the most staff members who work there can remember, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Deputy Secretary Kim Smoak said. 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 Surveillance, said it was “the largest evacuation ever in the state.”
Health officials are using nearly 600 vehicles to move patients out of the storm’s path, tracking them with blue bracelets indicating where they were evacuated from and where they are being sent. They plan to continue moving patients out through the night, until winds reach sustained speeds of 40 mph and driving conditions become dangerous.
“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 concerns are great, but we are as prepared as we know how to be.”
Tampa General Hospital has stockpiled 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 deployed an “aquafence” to successfully prevent storm surge flooding during Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. The barrier will be raised again when Milton makes landfall and can withstand a 15-foot storm surge. The U.S. National Hurricane Center estimates that surges from Milton will reach 10 to 15 feet in height at their peak.
No one will be working on the first floor of Tampa General Hospital for the foreseeable future — just in case.
“While AquaFence has been shown to be effective in the past, it is only the first line of defense and one of many mitigation efforts we have implemented this week to continue to care for our patients safely,” said Jennifer Crabtree, Tampa General’s chief of staff.
The Tampa Health System has closed many urgent care and imaging centers, but its four hospital campuses are prepared to stay open during the storm.
HCA Florida Healthcare, one of the largest health care networks in the state, evacuated patients from five hospitals to partner facilities. The 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 winds violent storms and flooding caused significant damage in 2022 during Hurricane Ian. .
AdventHealth North Pinellas evacuated its 40 patients Tuesday afternoon, transferring them to nearby hospitals within their 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 possible with water, generators, sandbags, satellite phones and the best caregivers that are.”
Hospitals are closing nearby, but Sarasota Memorial Health Care System also plans to stay open during the storm and set up shelters, Verinder said. Still, “we are concerned about the many unknowns,” he said.
Verinder estimates that the system, equipped with enough food, water, linens and medicine for at least seven days and 200,000 gallons of fuel, is expected to shelter and support more than 4,000 people during the hurricane, even if it is already close to its capacity.
More than 2,500 staff members are preparing for multiple nights at the hospital starting Tuesday, which is why Sarasota Memorial is offering child care and pet shelters on both of its campuses.
“We are not a designated medical shelter, but we work with the county to care for medically dependent individuals assigned to the hospital due to the acuity of their needs…and patients evacuated from other area hospitals “, he said.
Dr. Matt Shannon, director of community emergency medicine at University of Florida Health, said the state’s flagship center is ready to receive patients.
“The emergency department…we never close,” he said. “We have five emergency services, all open and functional. This is not our first rodeo, we have been through this many times before.”
Repeated and challenging hurricane seasons have toughened Florida’s facilities and prepared them for Milton, said Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association. However, the power of Hurricane Milton and the succession of storms will affect “a large part of the state and hospitals”.
“This increases vulnerabilities in the region, from flooding to blocked pipes to debris that has not been removed, which could worsen the situation that is already predicted to be catastrophic,” Mayhew said. “Area hospitals routinely prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
At a briefing Tuesday, state officials and long-term care industry representatives urged nursing homes and assisted living facilities to prepare for extended power outages, damage to systems sewers and the inability to access electronic health records.
“We want to remind you that all emergencies are local,” said Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Health Care Association, which represents the state’s nursing homes and assisted living providers. “You should start by contacting 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 Kristen Knapp, a spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association.
“Based on what has been reported, you are talking at a minimum of 5,000 to 6,000 nursing home residents who were evacuated,” Knapp said in an email.
In counties under a state of emergency, nursing homes and assisted living facilities must have sufficient 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 Care Association’s emergency response team, said centers should print residents’ documents, including medications, dietary restrictions and more, even if they don’t are not in the worst area of the hurricane’s path. She also urged staff to think about the mental health of their residents, some of whom are moving for the second time in just a few weeks.
“You need to ensure — after the storm or even during the storm — trauma-informed care for those residents,” Franklin said. “They might worry about their family. They might worry about whether they’re going to have a home to return to.”
Lillie Whiting, 67, said she has no plans to evacuate the assisted living facility where she lives a few blocks from Clearwater Bay. But she may still have to pack her bags if Magnolia Manor staff determine the residents need to be transferred to another facility in 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 housekeeper took advantage of the clear weather Tuesday afternoon to get some fresh air, supported by the walker she uses to get around. She’s growing increasingly nervous as Hurricane Milton heads toward the Gulf Coast, but she said she’s confident the facility will take care of her and other residents.
“A little scared,” she said. “But I pray all the time.”
UF Health’s Shannon said most people with lung problems who rely on oxygen at home have backup oxygen tanks ready, and some new devices even have backup batteries.
But he worries about the fate of the elderly and those living in rural areas.
“We see them in the emergency room when rescue fails or they don’t have access to a generator,” Shannon said.
Dialysis centers across the state are trying to provide even shorter treatments to as many patients as possible before closing because of the storm.
“Helen, they were able to get back up and running pretty quickly. But with the wind, it could be a different type of event,” said Helen Rose of the Health Services Advisory Group, which helps coordinate disaster responses for patients with kidney disease. The network has established a hotline and will maintain a list of facilities open during and after the storm.
