How hospitals prepared for Henri.
While Tropical Storm Henri tracked farther east, sparing Connecticut from the brunt of the high winds and heavy rain on Sunday, hospitals officials said they were prepared for the worst.
St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport established an emergency plan that included allowing staff who were on duty to stay overnight Saturday and Sunday if needed.
The health system’s Fairfield region also closed its urgent care centers at noon Sunday as a precaution.
“This is not sneaking up on us. We’ve known about this for days,” said William M. Jennings, president of Hartford HealthCare’s Fairfield Region, which includes St. Vincent’s.
Though by Sunday afternoon, the impact on much of the state, particularly the Bridgeport region, wasn’t as intense as expected, hospitals were ready.
“It’s our duty to take it seriously — hope for the best, but plan for the worst,” Jennings said Sunday afternoon.
Other hospitals and health systems engaged in similar storm preparations. Nuvance Health — which includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals — said it expected its facilities to “remain fully operational” during the storm.
“We are preparing our campuses and offsite locations for the predicted weather per our standard operational response,” the health system said in a statement. “We want to thank our staff that has stayed over or are coming in early to assist with our response.”
Bridgeport Hospital spokesperson John Cappiello said Sunday morning there were “no major issues” at the hospital’s main Bridgeport campus or at its Milford campus and there were no access or staffing issues. Bridgeport Hospital’s urgent care centers in Fairfield and Milford were closed Sunday due to the storm.
On Sunday afternoon, Bridgeport Hospital President Anne Diamond said the storm’s impact on the hospital’s coverage area appeared to be minimal.
“It looks like Henri is not giving us too hard a time,” she said.
But, she said, the hospital was prepared and had taken precautions to make sure there was enough power to the generators, and ample food and other supplies. Some staff members stayed at Bridgeport Hospital overnight Saturday.
However, Diamond said, most of the emergency preparations the hospital had put into place were not needed.
“We’re in normal operations,” she said.
At St. Vincent’s, Jennings said the health system regularly conducts drills to prepare for emergencies, and has what’s known as a 96-hour rule, meaning hospitals need to be selfsustaining for at least 96 hours during an emergency, with an ample supply of food, medicine, equipment and other supplies.
St. Vincent’s received a delivery of food on Friday and a shipment of medical supplies arrived Sunday morning in preparation for Henri, said John Rossi, vice president of operations for Hartford HealthCare Fairfield region. The hospital took other measures as well, such as making sure its generators were ready to power the hospital and securing things that needed to be tied down.
“We’re well-prepared,” Rossi said.
The system also has been holding regular “safety huddles” — including one Sunday morning, as the storm was moving into state — to hone its response.
“We’ve been in emergency response mode all this year for the COVID-19 pandemic, so we’ve got the playbook,” Rossi said.
As for any patients who went to the hospital for non-storm concerns, such as suspected COVID-19, they were treated as they would any other day, Rossi said, with staff adhering to personal protective equipment guidelines and other safety measures.
Rossi said his chief concern was getting patients to and from the hospital, particularly if flooding and road closures made travel unsafe. He said he knows some people with ailments that don’t need immediate attention may delay a trip to the hospital. Likewise, those who in the hospital on Sunday who were ready to be released, may have needed to stay longer due to travel concerns.
“Some people may need to stay here while we ride out the storm a little bit,” Rossi said. “We can wait. It’s not an issue.”