Nurses in the path of Hurricane Irene

Nurses General Nursing

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This hurricane sounds like it has the potential to be a major event in large, heavily populated cities. If you work at a hospital or nursing facility in the path of this storm, what precautions are being taken prior to landfall? Will you be required to stay at the hospital? What are they telling you about calling in sick or calling in unable to get there? If you are staying at the hospital, what arrangements are you making for children/family?

nj here hospital requiring everyone to arrive by 7pm (for 11-7 shift) and bring personal items. got a free room + hosp food until 11pm tomorrow shift and than will probably be required to stay since people wont be able to get here.. patients keep coming though.... ceo is staying over night which is scary lmao

i find that incredible and wonderful at the same time. that's not what i would expect, quite frankly, though my former hospital's former ceo would probably have done the same. i thought he was one in a million, but perhaps not...:)

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I have gone to work a snowstorm having not slept between shifts because I had stayed at a hotel and not slept a wink (not by choice). I went back and worked my shift even though I was so tired I was almost sick. I have worked a different snowstorm having left my family on my husband's birthday to stay at a hotel on my own dime the night before the storm came, and came back the next day to cover a coworker who couldn't leave her subdivision. I have driven to work in a tornado storm when I was 33 weeks pregnant. But I am not driving to work in the middle of a hurricane. The hospital will not be raising my motherless children should something happen to me on the commute. If it gets ugly around here (it might or might not), and my family can't stay AT the hospital with me, I am not coming in. Sorry. I'm a nurse and I've pulled my weight, but I am not a martyr.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

Prayers and luck to all of you preparing to ride the storm. Come back Monday and let us know how you are.

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Specializes in ICU.

Please everyone STAY SAFE!

i am in Northern NJ and am so thankful to be unemployed now. I have a 4 year old and love in the worst flood zone and will have to evacuate. My ex husband is leaving for SC right now on vacation because he is a selfish pr!ck and quite stupid because he is driving into the eye of the storm.

If I was working at my last job i would have to go into work with my 4 year old daughter and chihuaua.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise not to be working.

Kudos to all you courageous nurses.

It's a thankless profession.

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I am pulling this post from another discussion and want to emphasize that it is taken out of context-so you might not understand the passion of this poster-but I thought it was an amazing post and wanted to share it.

Huh? "If people were not getting paid, they would never take care of strangers"? Oh...well that explains why my happy butt is going into the eye of the hurricane tomorrow morning to set up an alternate care facility for total strangers-cause I don't give a crap about them and have nothing better to do during the weekend.

BTW, I am NOT getting paid.

In times of disaster, people rely on strangers. I am honored to provide for them. THAT is reality.

I totally understand the prior posts from nurses with young children who cannot make the kind of sacrifice described above for obvious reasons. But I really admire nurses like the above-who are able and willing to go above and beyond. I don't know that I would be able to do it.

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cape cod here. spent today battening down hatches in the mid-19th-century house (which has withstood far worse, i know), getting some garden produce into jars, bringing in the houseplants that have been out for the summer so the flying salt spray won't kill them, cooking food that will keep a few days if the power goes out, stocking up on cat food so the little buggers won't be biting our ankles for protein if their rodent prey has gone to ground.

we're up on a hill about 1/2 mile from the ocean so flooding (either fresh or salt water) will not be an issue for us, and we don't own a boat. tomorrow i'm charging up all the electronics, bringing in the last of the outdoor furniture, bringing in about a bushel of half-ripe tomatoes off the wall so they won't go flying around, and tying down potential flying objects like the hot-tub cover. the only thing i'm really concerned about is one big tree that could impact the house if the worst of the wind is out of the west, and another if the worst of it is from the north; hurricane winds here tend to be from the southwest, so probably not. any hardwood trees or branches that come down get cut up for firewood, so that's a plus, but disposing of pines is a pain.

i am supposed to be in an atty office in ri on monday morning. we'll see about that when the time comes.

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Specializes in 10.

Everyone. Please be safe.

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Specializes in operating room, ER, psych, ortho trauma.

I feel for anyone who has to work this during all this and has children! If I could work for you guys I would. I worked through Katrina as an ER nurse in Jackson, MS. You are all in my prayers.

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"The hospital will not be raising my motherless children should something happen to me on the commute." Elvish

I love this! Too true.

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Specializes in General adult inpatient psychiatry.

I'm in Baltimore, MD, working tomorrow (Sat) and off on Sunday. I haven't heard anything from work but I live less than 2 miles from work. I'm not expecting tomorrow to be horrible. My parents on the Eastern Shore will get flooded more than likely but it's hurricane season. I'm planning on getting up a bit early tomorrow to see what the weather is doing but that's it.

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I don't think my hospital or area will be too affected by this. But we get mandated ALL THE TIME In sunny 80 degree weather . i am sure this would not be an issue as things would go on as usual. mandate who ever actually showed up.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
"The hospital will not be raising my motherless children should something happen to me on the commute." Elvish

I love this! Too true.

Hence, the reason your coworkers before your shift need to be prepared to be mandated. It's the ones who are working while the disaster is occuring that get stuck there.

I'm in NYC, where the transit system will be closing at noon tomorrow. The bridges may be closing, depending on the wind speeds. This will cause a great number of call-ins for evenings and nights tomorrow, hence mandating the day shift.

While I may not get paid as much as a hospital nurse, I must say this is one of the perks of teaching :D

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