Hurricane coming: evacuate or stay and work?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Since I can't do polls, I just wondered: Imagine you live in the area where a major hurricane is predicted to hit soon. Do you evacuate, or stay and work? I know this is NOT hypothetical for some of you right now with Gustav, and my prayers are with you all! But I just wondered what the general consensus would be.

Me: I run. I am NOT leaving my children in that kind of danger after seeing what happened with Katrina, and I don't care if they fire me. You?

Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.
I wouldn't stay...

I am a single mom to a 4 year old... he comes first.

Luckily, I don't live in a hurricane risk zone.

While I can see your point. Let me say what others have voiced when they are in the situation. Living in Florida southern part I might add. To evacuate, the scenario might very well be. Ended up stranded on the freeway takes 8 hours to reach Georgia from here. The running out of gas/water along the way. The not being able to find a hotel or not having friends or relatives within driving distance. We have all seen this happen. I can say each building is/was built to different building codes of their day. Administrators are well aware of the ability of their buildings to with stand disaster or not. That is why some facilities evacuate their patients and staff and some do not. Our hospital is the safest place to be in most cases, and workers children are taken care of on site.

I believe what happened with Katrina which was the most extreme that anyone saw. The pictures in my mind, the stories which came out of what occurred will remain burned into me in horror and grief.

I do believe people must do what they feel they must. Our administration gather together to review weather reports. They then must make decisions not only based on the impending storms which are best and worst case scenarios. They must also look at the discharging to home for those that can be, the transferring to other facilities out of the area of harm. I do not envy them making these decisions. Easy for any of us to say, hurrying enact the teams, evacuate etc. The costs of enacting are very, very high, the disruption to the patients themselves when evacuated very high. I see it as a delicate balancing act one for which I am grateful I am not having to make those kinds of decisions .

It does boil down to each individuals doing what is best for themselves. Here in the states in which hurricanes occur. To not be where we are suppose to be is grounds of losing ones job. Again each individual has to do what is best based on themselves.

I would ONLY HOPE that all of the hospitals in New Orleans evacuate ALL of their patients and close down their operations. Then only a skeletal administrative team need to stay and watch their own security. I would not want to be a family member worrying about any relative who is a patient or any parent, spouse, etc. worrying about family members especially after the last Katrina debacle.

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.
While I can see your point. Let me say what others have voiced when they are in the situation. Living in Florida southern part I might add. To evacuate, the scenario might very well be. Ended up stranded on the freeway takes 8 hours to reach Georgia from here. The running out of gas/water along the way. The not being able to find a hotel or not having friends or relatives within driving distance. We have all seen this happen. I can say each building is/was built to different building codes of their day. Administrators are well aware of the ability of their buildings to with stand disaster or not. That is why some facilities evacuate their patients and staff and some do not. Our hospital is the safest place to be in most cases, and workers children are taken care of on site.

I believe what happened with Katrina which was the most extreme that anyone saw. The pictures in my mind, the stories which came out of what occurred will remain burned into me in horror and grief.

I do believe people must do what they feel they must. Our administration gather together to review weather reports. They then must make decisions not only based on the impending storms which are best and worst case scenarios. They must also look at the discharging to home for those that can be, the transferring to other facilities out of the area of harm. I do not envy them making these decisions. Easy for any of us to say, hurrying enact the teams, evacuate etc. The costs of enacting are very, very high, the disruption to the patients themselves when evacuated very high. I see it as a delicate balancing act one for which I am grateful I am not having to make those kinds of decisions .

It does boil down to each individuals doing what is best for themselves. Here in the states in which hurricanes occur. To not be where we are suppose to be is grounds of losing ones job. Again each individual has to do what is best based on themselves.

Thanks for clarifying this. I think alot of the posters on here do not know that this is all procedure and routine here in the south and most hurricanes are nowhere near Katrina or what they saw on TV. That is very extreme. Most hospitals are built specifically to withstand hurricanes and usually arent in low lying areas. And if they are they should be closed down for the storm. The hospital is often the safest place to be and many nurses are unable to evacuate due to various circumstances. Evacuating is not all its cracked up to be, believe me:)

So many choose to stay BECAUSE they are concerned for their kids safety. There are more safe in the hospital, than they would be in their homes or stuck on the interstate for hours upon end going 5 mph with no vacancies or gas anywhere.

Knowing all this, the nurses down here really are expected to cover their shifts. The hospitals are usually pretty reasonable trying to accommodate for this.

And during a hurricane they need you more than ever, there are some very vulnerable populations and its a bit unethical to just leave if you were signed up for shifts during the storm.And you WILL be fired if you do.

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.
I would ONLY HOPE that all of the hospitals in New Orleans evacuate ALL of their patients and close down their operations. Then only a skeletal administrative team need to stay and watch their own security. I would not want to be a family member worrying about any relative who is a patient or any parent, spouse, etc. worrying about family members especially after the last Katrina debacle.

I actually agree because it doesnt seem like those hospitals are up to code for hurricanes, unless something has changed since Katrina. I think some are being closed down as we speak.

it really all depends for me- cat 2 or lower I will stay and work, along with dh who works for the FD. anything that is a cat 2 or higher- my dad will take the kids to Ga, NC, etc. Now if its a cat 3 or higher- Im leaving and going with them. Im per diem and its up to each manager to decide whether to use us. I think my dept is the only one that makes the per diems work. I most likely would be suspended, etc but I dont think the hurricane list was put in by the May deadline per the union contract this year and it just went out last week to sign which I havent even received yet. ( I wasnt even asked which team I wanted to be on and they put me on the A team again) anyhow as years prior when they tried to fire, etc the union stepped in and they didnt lose their jobs since it wasnt turned in on time. I was there for both frances and jean and the hospital was falling apart between the water and trees crashing into the windows,etc It was scary- not too mention no water afterwards to flush, etc. :scrying: My mom is currently a traveler on the west coast of La and her hospital finally told her to evacaute a hour ago. she is trying to get to Baton Rouge to a fellow traveler's place for the night and than tomorrow to oxford, ms where my aunt lives. Im praying she will be out of harm's way. Gustav looks powerful and deadly..

tell your mom DO NOT TRY TO HEAD TOWARD MISSISSIPPI. Tell her to head north. The contraflow has started and she may not be able to get anywhere except stuck in traffic.

Specializes in CCU, CIU, Cathlab, EP lab.

This will be my first post ..I am a fourth gen. Florida native. I have been through dozens of 'hurricuns' including Donna as a child, and then

Andrew (where we were sent down to help out) and then a few years ago, three 'eyes' passed right over our house.

For Andrew, we were initially asked to bring two gallons of water to the hospital where I worked (for the commode..not for drinking) and told that we may not be able to leave, once we started our shift.

It turns out that Andrew spared us, so we went down to help out.

Charles, Frances and Jeanne were more rainstorms than anything, although downed trees and power outages were common..

Really my opinion about these storms is to stay put, until you are asked to evacuate- or assist in recovery efforts by officials.

Katrina was NOT a serious storm..nothing like Andrew or Donna or the big ones that come along from time to time, but since the infamous ninth ward and many other areas in New Orleans were and are STILL below sea level, it seems it is inviting destruction, being built on the Gulf coast.

The entire area was built during the many storms that occurred before they even named them. The state of Louisiana should seriously consider enlisting the Feds help to change the levy structure or we will spend billions over and over to repair a situation that isn't going to change otherwise.

My point is that Hurricanes..or as they say in the South, 'hurricuns', are normal for this area, so we have to live with them, just like the spring floods along the Mississippi river.

I really hope that Gustav, or the one behind him..isn't a Donna, or an Andrew, because flooding and looting will not be the nightly news, it will be much worse.

The reason I have learned to stay put is, a friend of mine ran to Alabama when a storm was approaching Florida back in the seventies.

When the storm, Camille, missed Florida entirely, the friend had no idea he was headed directly into Camille's path. They lost everything they had taken with them...to their point of 'safety'.

Regards,

If it was just me, I would stay. I love severe weather and I'm not scared of storms/tornadoes/hurricanes. I'm nutty enough you'd probably see me clinging to a light pole...on the other hand, my children come first and they wouldn't have to tell me twice to get out.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I would not go to work unless I knew for a fact that my son and husband were with me. It may not be as much of an issue because my husband works at the same job, and my son's school is not far from it. I live in NY, so, we are not in as much risk for such, but believe me, we do have blizzards. We have actually discussed it-if there were an emergency such as that, as a family we plan to be together first. We can all go to the hospital, but I have to know they are safe otherwise, I can't say that mentally, I can properly tend to others.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I have to have a plan as I live on the coast and in a mandatory evacuation zone.

I make sure my home and dogs are save. I evacuate and go to work. I work out the storm and then I am releaved. My hospital is not in an evacuation zone and safe.

No one is expected to leave their family in harm's way. But persons with families might be expected to work, because 95% of us have families. Planning ahead is essential. Most have relatives or husbands nearby. It must be gut wrenching to have to make the decision to assure the safety of your family and leave them to go to work. For those who refuse to make those decisions I say "find another job". There are plenty of nursing jobs that aren't 24/7 and can be closed during a hurricane. Unfortunately the hospital I work for isn't one of them. Fortunately most of us know this.

We also have a relief team. So after the storm we are releived. Most people with babies and small children, and those with a long commute are on this team.

Very well said. I'm right there with you.........I would more than likely tell my husband to take the family and pets to safer ground, and I'd stay at my building taking care of our residents, regardless of any personal risk. It's expected of me as a manager, but I also expect it of myself---these people are frail and cannot rescue themselves, so it's my duty to assist with rescuing them.

Besides, when you get right down to where the cheese binds, I've lived a good life and done most of what I set out to do, and if something were to happen to me in the course of a hurricane, earthquake, fire, bombing or other catastrophe, it would be OK. Better me than my kids or grandkids, I say, and I'd rather die in the process of trying to save someone than live with myself if they came to harm because I wasn't there.:stone

You are brave. But why not all just evacuate?

Specializes in Emergency.
Katrina was NOT a serious storm..nothing like Andrew or Donna or the big ones that come along from time to time, but since the infamous ninth ward and many other areas in New Orleans were and are STILL below sea level, it seems it is inviting destruction, being built on the Gulf coast.

Katrina SAVAGED much more than New Orleans, including where I was born and raised, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and also the coast Alabama. Hurricane Katrina actully caused more damage and flooding to MS than Camille did in 1969. People whose homes were "safe" during Camille thought they would be safe during Katrina too. Wrong!

To the OP's question: If I knew the hospital was going to be safe from flooding or wind damage, I would stay and work.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

I told my sister take the kids and run for the hills...but thats only if they are not gonna let them stay at the hospital with me. I also signed a contract stating I would stay during a hurricane and work and also volunteer for DHEC for disasters. I too feel it is unethical to leave ones behind too frail to take care of themselves. As long as my sister and the kids are safe I am ok.

We choose to live where we live knowing full well the dangers of what kind of weather we could have. I lived in upper New England knowing there are blizzards (which many I got stuck working 20 hour shifts during...or got stuck to where the national guard had to come get me on my way to work).....Now I have chosen to live at the beach where there is always that chance that a hurricane may hit....and I understand it is my duty to stay.

+ Add a Comment