Children’s evacuates patients in hurricane’s path

As Hurricane Ike churned toward the Texas coast, hundreds of thousands of residents were leaving the city to avoid the storm's path. But a trio from Children's Medical Center was heading straight into it.

On Thursday, Sept. 11, Jenny McCauley, RN; Anthony Di Marco, NREMT-P (Nationally Registered EMT-Paramedic); and Scott Anderson, RRT-NPS, NREMT-P, all part of the Children's Transport team, volunteered to help evacuate sick children from a Galveston hospital to other hospitals outside of the storm's reach.

Scotti Floyd-Edgar, RN, BSN, LP, clinical manager of Transport, stayed in Dallas, handling conference calls with state emergency officials, airport crews and transport directors from other hospitals.

In 16 hours, the group transported seven patients, including six newborns and one intensive care patient.

Scott Anderson, RRT-NPS, NREMT-P, adjusts twins in an isolette on the Children's jet. Fixed Wing services are provided by Seven Bar Air.

Getting children out quickly, safely

Each year, Transport staff at Children's handle an average of 3,400 transports, picking up patients from referring hospitals and bringing them into Children's via jet, helicopter or ambulance.

However, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declares a state of emergency — as was the case during Hurricane Ike — transport practices require flexibility while maintaining the highest quality of care and safety.

In 1996, Children's became one of the first neonatal and pediatric teams in the nation to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Air Medical Systems (CAMTS) in all three modes of transport. This regulatory accreditation maintains quality and safety priorities, even in the event of a disaster.

Anthony Di Marco, NREMT-P, transfers a baby from the Children's jet to an ambulance in Austin.

Transport teams work together

"The evacuation was different than a standard transport because we were working on getting as many patients out as we could in a timely manner," McCauley said.

Methodist Hospital San Antonio, Texas Children's Hospital, Driscoll Children's and Cook Children's also sent transport teams to help evacuate patients. Each team contributed its own medical equipment, planes and helicopters.

The Children's crew transported three patients at a time, securing a pair of newborn twins together in one isolette, while a third baby was secured in a car seat. "Once there's a disaster coming, or the chance of imminent death or danger, putting three patients in a jet is a lot safer than leaving them there," Anderson said.

By the end of the day, the transport teams had managed to move some 400 patients — including 50 newborns — out of harm's way.

"We had people from large neonatal and pediatric institutions coming together in a time of crisis to help patients," Floyd-Edgar said. "This speaks volumes about how large facilities in the state were able to drop their boundaries and work together for the good of a patient.

Tags: hurricane , ike , evacuate , patients , transport team , emergency , hospital