Florida has taken a beating in recent months, hit first on September 26 by Hurricane Helene and then just two weeks later by Hurricane Milton on October 9.
Florida hospitals were prepared, though, and are mostly back to normal, Florida Hospital Association president and CEO Mary Mayhew told Healthcare Brew.
“The lack of impact and damage is a testament to the critical investments, to the hardening of facilities, to the flood mitigation efforts,” she said. “Even if [hospitals] evacuated, the fact that they were able to reopen quickly because they didn’t sustain any damage is attributable to the physical plant investments they’ve been making.”
But there were still obstacles hospitals couldn’t anticipate that taught leaders important lessons for the future, she added, especially as climate change will make extreme weather events more likely for the area.
Evacuations. An “unprecedented number” of healthcare facilities evacuated for Milton, Mayhew said—last Friday, the number was more than 400, according to Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) data shared in a press release from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office.
So while hospitals are now largely back to normal operations, it can be difficult even a week later to find a place to discharge patients who need to go to nursing homes or assisted living facilities, Mayhew explained.
By October 15, about 124 healthcare facilities were still evacuated, including four hospitals, two hospital emergency departments (EDs), 68 assisted living facilities, and 15 nursing homes, per AHCA data in a separate release from the governor’s office.
AHCA reported in the same release that 153 facilities did not have power back yet, including three hospitals, two hospital EDs, 104 assisted living facilities, and 14 nursing homes.
Navigate the healthcare industry
Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.
Hospitals are also still in the process of returning patients who were transferred away from the coast, Mayhew added.
Fuel shortages. Even after facilities opened up, employee obstacles have slowed down efforts to return to normal.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced after Milton was the lack of available fuel for employees to fill their cars to be able to get to and from the hospital,” Mayhew said.
Florida residents evacuating the coast pre-Milton depleted local gas supplies. Then Port Tampa Bay’s fuel terminals lost power following the storm, which kept workers from delivering more fuel to local gas stations until the terminals were restored last Friday, according to a press release.
Utilities. A water main break during Milton also caused St. Petersberg officials to temporarily shut off the public water systems and sewers, leaving several hospitals in the area without access to public utilities, Mayhew said.
She added that hospitals are generally prepared for power outages with generators, but sewers are a whole other ballgame.
“We need to continue to prepare and strengthen what hospitals are doing in the event that that happens another time,” she said.
She said that some facilities, such as Sarasota Memorial Hospital, have installed wells for cases where public water becomes inaccessible. Others, like Tampa Bay General Hospital, combat flooding by turning to new technology such as the AquaFence flood barrier.