Who's ready for a hospital hurricane party!?!

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ICU.

Here's a question for seasoned hurricane nurses. We live in south Florida so it looks like we are going to escape the majority of Isaac. However I am trying to plan ahead just in case. My husband and I have a 5 year old little boy. My husband is a law enforcement officer so he is a first responder also. I work in ICU so it is unlikely that I would be told to stay home so when it comes time our son would be coming with me to the hospital. I have never ridden out a hurricane at the hospital so I don't know what and how much you are allowed to bring. I am looking for good ideas of what to bring to keep the little one occupied. What kind of activities have you found the hospital does for the kiddos? I thought about his Nintendo DS, but honestly I am a little worried about sticky fingers and my son's tendancy to leave it sitting places.

Thanks for any ideas!!

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Accomodations and contingencies made by your hospital for your family members will be specific to your workplace.

Good luck to you.

p.s. -- if your husband is on duty as well, who will be watching your child while you are working?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Are you sure they will allow you to take your child to work with you? At my hospital, that is not usually allowed. You need to speak with people at your hospital to find out their guidelines for such situations. You also may need to find a babysitter who could care for your child for 2 or 3 days if necessary.

You are wise to plan ahead. Don't wait until the last minute to make a plan for you and your family.

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At my hospital we are not allowed to bring family members if the hospital goes on lockdown for a hurricane. We get to choose whether or not we are on the 'ride out' team (meaning we stay 24/7 at hospital from the moment we start lockdown until the moment we get the all clear, of course we are allowed to sleep in shifts but just have to be in the hospital during the entire storm) or you can choose the 'recovery team' which requires you to work 3 consecutive shifts in a row following the storm. I have never heard of hospitals that allow family members to stay even in dire situations.

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Specializes in ER, Home Health, PCU, Med/Surg.

during charlie, the hospital where I worked allowed family. The accomodations were not good, many did not have beds and it was very crowded and chaotic. Food was in short supply. I would recommend having your child stay with relatives. Who will watch him while you work if you bring him along? Even if you work the night shift and plan on him sleeping you cant leave him unattended in a hospital!

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Specializes in Home Care.

Plan, Plan, Plan before its too late to plan.

I went through 2 major hurricanes including hurricane Andrew in 92.

You need to be ready not just to "ride out the storm" but also for the aftermath if you do get hit my a major hurricane. Trust me, its no fun.

Get the Hurricane Preparedness Guide, read it, make a plan, stock up on supplies and get your childcare organized and confirmed. What to bring to the hospital should there be a "lockdown" is the least of your worries.

I really wish everyone would take hurricane season more seriously.

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pillows, medication(ambie, xanax, etc). I've d to stay at the hospital through Ivan and Dennis. And I'll be there for Isaac. I try not to watch anything about Isaac because it just causes more tears. The thought of leaving my family on Monday morning and probably will not come home till probably Thursday. I stayed for 4 days during Ivan. I work night shift in Labor and Delivery; I assisted with a delivery of a baby with a spot light and the window got hit by a rock and broke it. But everything went well. But as to what you need--think camping and unable to flush toilet, big buckets of water outside the room, and going down the halls taking B/P's, etc. My worst experience was I went home on Friday afternoon and my dad had to be lifeflighted back to the hospital Friday pm and he died on Tuesday. So that was my experience. Just keep your head up high and do the best that you can be dana328

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Our hospital has an exception for nurses that have family members that are first responders.

My own situation is a bit odd.....my hubby is Active Duty National Guard. One of his primary roles is the planning, preparation and execution of hurricane plans.....but he is in a different state. His state getting hit doesn't mean that my state is getting hit. For that reason, I did not take the exemption.

Check with your hospital, you may have an exemption and will not have to report.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

Be safe all of you

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Specializes in ICU.

Thanks everyone! Yes our hospital does allow for children to come. They would up a child care area in one of the conference areas for kids while the parents are working. One of staff assignments would actually be child care. Family is not an option since when we moved down here earlier this year for my husbands job we moved 8 hours from them. It's just us. We have friends, but a lot of the ones we have made are co-workers who will also be working. Plus the idea of our son not with one of us during a storm is not something I like the idea of.

itsmejuli- We have been through several hurricanes in Florida. Opal being the worst we saw at a cat 4 I believe when it just leveled the panhandle and both of my parents lived in South Florida for years. I also worked with a relief group that went over to Biloxi and did clean up after Katrina. Metal shutters are in the garage here and we had plenty of supplies ready just in case. You are right, a hurricane is not just a time for hurricane parties. A lot of damage occurs and a lot of lives get turned upside down. What to bring to the hospital was part of me trying to plan out for him. I wanted to make sure that I had stuff to keep him occupied and happy since I was afraid it was going to be stressful enough on him.

Luckily enough the storm turned. We got awful awful weather here yesterday with lots of flooding, but the hurricane itself has turned we are no longer at risk to get the brunt of it. Hope everyone else stays safe!

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

FLICURN:

I rode out Opal in Panama City at my hospital. Most of us were not first responders but we were told that we needed to do whatever we needed to do to make sure we did not miss any scheduled shifts. Only one nurse missed her shift. She was quite young and she said her father forbade her to drive to work during the storm for her shift (that's why we had all showed up 8-12hrs before our shifts). Opal was a category 4 I think.

Now in that storm, several people brought their families though I hear the conditions were not that great. My conditions were not too bad. I actually came back to the hospital after going home because I had no power (read no A/C) and my manager had offered me a spare bed so I could sleep to work the next night.

Now, I don't know how true this is, but rumor had it that one family came to ride out the storm and as soon as they got settled in, the children came down with chickenpox. That family got to stay the rest of the time in an office that was far away from patient care areas.

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Specializes in ICU.

TiffyRN,

If you don't mind telling, was it BMC or GCMC?? I worked for BMC before we moved down here and when a position with my husbands job comes available that's where I would like to go back to. I know a lot of people would think I'm crazy, but I miss Panama City a lot!

Panama City was actually where we were when Opal hit. I was still in high school at the time. Luckily my family's house was fine, but I remember all the damage else where.

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