Hurrican Gustav

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Is anybody watching this thing on TV??

It looks VERY scary. I am from Mobile, AL and am worried for my friends and family there. I really hope this isnt another Katrina!!

Specializes in Critical Care.

Mobile will be relatively unaffected. I follow the computer models religiously and right now the consensus is between Beaumont and NOLA.

However, many of the models are demonstrating a southwesterly curve either right before or right after landfall, bringing it quickly to my neck of the woods (Houston).

My hospital's already gone to external disaster mode and I will likely be spending the night here Monday night as disaster staffing.

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.

I just worry because it seems to me those models are never right and it could swing anywhere. It would be horrible if it hit NO dead on though, they still havent recovered from Katrina. And the Mississippi coast--theres still FEMA trailers everywhere. Its going to be a mess no matter where it hits.

I have never seen one hit Houston before.Although it seems like that would not be good either....

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.
Mobile will be relatively unaffected. I follow the computer models religiously and right now the consensus is between Beaumont and NOLA.

However, many of the models are demonstrating a southwesterly curve either right before or right after landfall, bringing it quickly to my neck of the woods (Houston).

My hospital's already gone to external disaster mode and I will likely be spending the night here Monday night as disaster staffing.

Yeah I am in Florida right now, they made us come in for Faye last week and do that, which seemed a little excessive for a tropical storm. But at least they paid you a small amount to do this. When I worked in Mobile they did not pay you to come in and stay but just expected it.

Just curious, what does your hospital do??

Specializes in Critical Care.

We don't have an official policy for hazard pay, but during Rita we got time and a half. Of course, we also got pay for the entire time we were bunkered- sleeping, eating, and of course, working.

By the way, it's sped up considerably and now it looks like landfall will be Monday afternoon. That's a bummer in that they'll be no overnight pay and also that it will be hard to repair power at night.

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.

Wow your hospital sounds much more reasonable that the hospital I was at during Katrina. They just paid for the shifts I worked, nothing for coming in the night before or staying there to keep working my scheduled shifts for 2 days after. How lame. I have since learned that most hospitals have some sort of disaster pay and I am glad yours does.

Yeah I see now on the news where they said it has turned just a little to the west, which looks like it could be Texas. And monday night seems really soon!!

I hope they do a better job preparing for this one. They say FEMA is way better than before, but we will see......

Specializes in My son...for now..

I hope your family is unharmed. Icuy I live in houston during katrina and rita... It's pretty scary waiting for something ominous to happen. And for those that say "just" leave, it was almost impossible to get out of houston 46 hours on the road.. just to dallas.

God knows the gulf coast could use a break from the destruction...

CHATSDALE

4,177 Posts

this looks like a bad storm..it looks likeit may be following rita's path..this is bad because a lot of the exit highways are narrow and difficult to navigate in the night or rain

i hope that they are getting out ahead of time..better to get out and have the storm swerve then to stay and get caught

this pathway is the same as the audrey storm many years ago and there was no early warning system and many people died

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.
I hope your family is unharmed. Icuy I live in houston during katrina and rita... It's pretty scary waiting for something ominous to happen. And for those that say "just" leave, it was almost impossible to get out of houston 46 hours on the road.. just to dallas.

God knows the gulf coast could use a break from the destruction...

Yeah I was working during Ivan and Katrina in Mobile and it wasnt fun. And we got no where near the destruction from Katrina that NO and Mississippi got of course, but it was still no power for a week or 2, 2 hour lines for gas, price gouging, ect. Pluse we were the closest major hospital that stayed fully operational during/after the storm so they were helicoptering all these victims into our already full hospital, turning single rooms to double rooms.......it was a disorganized nightmare. Plus as I already said NO HURRICANE PAY. It was ridiculous. I feel very sorry for all of you having to work in the storm zone this week.

Houston got hit pretty bad by Rita didnt it??

And yeah "just evacuate" is easier said than done when you have multiple pets and work at a hospital:rolleyes:

Even if you had the perfect circumstances to evacuate its still ridiculous on the roads.

Specializes in My son...for now..

No, it turned out to be like a windy night at the beach... but of course, true to my unprepared nature, when people were buying water and canned goods, I was buying some stupid lipgloss, totally missed out on the bunker thing, and by the time I realized through the news that a hurricane was coming the gas stations were dry, no bottled water.. everything closed.

Thank goodness nothing bad ended up happening, I was totally unprepared.

allnurses Guide

herring_RN, ASN, BSN

3,651 Posts

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

I'm working day shift Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The nurse I'm working for will either participate in a Labor Day parade and go to the opening of a new Whole Foods Market or be deployed to relieve tired nurses if needed.

I worked for a different nurse after Katrina:

http://www.calnurses.org/rnrn/

Here is a video of thanks from some nurses at the hospital where my friend was a "California Angel"

I need a tissue when watching this.

NURSES ARE THE BEST!

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.
No, it turned out to be like a windy night at the beach... but of course, true to my unprepared nature, when people were buying water and canned goods, I was buying some stupid lipgloss, totally missed out on the bunker thing, and by the time I realized through the news that a hurricane was coming the gas stations were dry, no bottled water.. everything closed.

Thank goodness nothing bad ended up happening, I was totally unprepared.

Haha, that was me during Ivan. I had worked nightshift the 3 nights leading up and kinda missed that we were about to get hit until the last minute. They let us leave during our shift the morning before it hit in groups of 2's to go to walmart before it closed down. If I hadnt been able to do that would have had no food/bottled water. I was pretty grateful.

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