Hurricane Matthew Updates

Nurses COVID

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Hurricane Matthew has strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane and is headed toward the FL coast. Much of the US eastern coastline is under hurricane warnings with evacuations being issued.

The Annual Magnet Conference was in progress in Orlando this week, but has officially been closed this morning due to the approaching storm. Two staff from the allnurses team are among the thousands trying to leave the area. You can imagine the chaos.

If you are among those stranded, please give a shout out here. This can be a place to post your Matthew-related information.

Please stay safe!!!

Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

We've lost our fence in the back yard. I'm sad but we are still ok otherwise. So for that I am grateful. The fence can be mended.

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
We've lost our fence in the back yard. I'm sad but we are still ok otherwise. So for that I am grateful. The fence can be mended.

Is it showing any signs of calming down? Possibly moving upwards soon if I'm correct? Gosh my heart goes out to you and your family. I'm snuggled in Ohio. The worst we've had is a few scattered storms with mild flooding and drop in temp.

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

The rain has stopped. The frequency of gusts is lengthening. But the gusts are still pretty powerful. Power went out for a bit but is back on again. Powerlines are behind my house on the adjacent property so I'm eyeing those suspiciously.

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
The rain has stopped. The frequency of gusts is lengthening. But the gusts are still pretty powerful. Power went out for a bit but is back on again. Powerlines are behind my house on the adjacent property so I'm eyeing those suspiciously.

How's your morning going out there on the east coast?

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

I made it to work alright. Lots of trees down and debris strewn about. Last night I did a test run to get out and I was stressed because of flooding. Almost every Avenue was barricaded. But I found one clear, a long detour and used it this morning. Most of the water receded now.

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
I made it to work alright. Lots of trees down and debris strewn about. Last night I did a test run to get out and I was stressed because of flooding. Almost every Avenue was barricaded. But I found one clear, a long detour and used it this morning. Most of the water receded now.

Happy to hear you and your family is safe in the midst of all that craziness! :saint:

How's your facility/work environment?

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What happens to you all if you attempt to drive to work and the roads are flooded so bad you are putting yourself at risk. Can you call the police to take you into work or does the hospital come out and get you. You should not be terminated if this puts your life at risk.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
What happens to you all if you attempt to drive to work and the roads are flooded so bad you are putting yourself at risk. Can you call the police to take you into work or does the hospital come out and get you. You should not be terminated if this puts your life at risk.

That depends. Is your life seriously at risk or is it just time consuming and inconvenient to make your way around the flooding and into work? Could you have left before the anticipated flooding and gotten to work safely? Simply getting in your car on a normal day and driving to work puts your life at risk.

In a hurricane situation, the first responders have plenty to do without providing taxi service for the hospitals. Some hospitals do provide taxi service in to work -- you should check your hospital's policy in advance of the event.

I have cross country skied to work. I went to work on a snowmobile once. I drove fifty miles out of my way to get around flooding on several occasions and I've even gotten to work in a dinghy. If you simply don't try hard enough to get to work, you are not understanding your role in healthcare and you deserve to be terminated.

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
Happy to hear you and your family is safe in the midst of all that craziness! :saint:

How's your facility/work environment?

Yesterday was very busy. I'm an er nurse and because the roads were passable again, for the main thoroughfares, we had an influx of people. I had at least three very lucky chainsaw injuries (nearly could have been worse), a lineman with a significant face Lac, and several cooking injuries because many are without power and resorted to improvising with gas or traditional grills.

And because power is out, many knew or suspected their doctor would be closed the next couple of days, so they came for med refills, other urgent care stuff. Pharmacies had limited availability so we gave a lot of take home packs of meds. Exhausting.

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
Yesterday was very busy. I'm an er nurse and because the roads were passable again, for the main thoroughfares, we had an influx of people. I had at least three very lucky chainsaw injuries (nearly could have been worse), a lineman with a significant face Lac, and several cooking injuries because many are without power and resorted to improvising with gas or traditional grills.

And because power is out, many knew or suspected their doctor would be closed the next couple of days, so they came for med refills, other urgent care stuff. Pharmacies had limited availability so we gave a lot of take home packs of meds. Exhausting.

Holy cow. Thanks for all your hard work and sacrifice during this rough time!

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Eastern NC has gotten smacked very very hard by Matthew. Some areas got 16" of rain in under 24 hours, and our ground was already saturated. People still do not have power, roads have been washed out, and homes are underwater. I don't know how much media coverage this got but recovering is going to take a very long time. I worked all weekend and took all kinds of backroads to get home to my family (I live 50mi from work). When we started driving around today we were shocked at how much water is still standing around and how far over its banks our local river has flooded. We didn't drive into any of it because we aren't stupid but it was really shocking how much water is still there. It is going to get worse before it gets better as all the water from points west heads this direction and keeps going to our neighbors further east.

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
Eastern NC has gotten smacked very very hard by Matthew. Some areas got 16" of rain in under 24 hours, and our ground was already saturated. People still do not have power, roads have been washed out, and homes are underwater. I don't know how much media coverage this got but recovering is going to take a very long time. I worked all weekend and took all kinds of backroads to get home to my family (I live 50mi from work). When we started driving around today we were shocked at how much water is still standing around and how far over its banks our local river has flooded. We didn't drive into any of it because we aren't stupid but it was really shocking how much water is still there. It is going to get worse before it gets better as all the water from points west heads this direction and keeps going to our neighbors further east.

I've followed coverage provided by the "Weather Channel" and have seen the flooding in NC. The damage being done by this hurricane is just unbelievable. I'm praying for all you east coasters that you and your families stay safe.

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