Hurricane Laura: Hospital Workers Risk Lives to Protect Babies

As Hurricane Laura bore down on a city in the US state of Louisiana last Wednesday evening, 26 August, medical staff at a local hospital worked through the night to protect 19 newborn babies.

When news spread that the Category 4 hurricane was going to make landfall on Lake Charles, a mandatory evacuation was ordered on Tuesday, 25 August.

However, 19 babies born at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital – some of whom were premature, while others were on respirators or ventilators – could not be evacuated safely.

As a result, 20 hospital workers – comprising Dr Juan Bassano, 14 nurses, two neonatal nurse practitioners, and three respiratory therapists – stayed behind to make sure their charges were safe and sound.

Two hours before Hurricane Laura made landfall, many of the infants were transported from the smaller women’s hospital to the larger main facility, where the team looked after them in shifts.

In an interview the morning after the hurricane hit, Dr Bassano praised his colleagues’ efforts, saying: “In a small town like this, people have to pull together. I’m proud of them.”

The babies have since been transferred to other hospitals around the state, due to the damage done to the hospital’s water system.

Image Credit: Source