Hospitals brace for snow -- again!
No, you're not imagining things. MORE snow is expected to pound the region, with estimates of about a foot or more.
The prospect of a double whammy has made hospitals shift their disaster teams into high gear for the second time in a week, making sleeping arrangements for clinical staff and in some cases canceling elective surgeries.
Howard Gwon, administrator for Johns Hopkins emergency management, said the needs are unprecedented.
"We’ve never had to activate our command center a second time in one winter -- this is record history for not only the state but Hopkins," said Gwon, Hopkins' incident commander for the last 20 years.
The hospital had some 2,000 staffers sleep at the hospital over last weekend's storm and is preparing for more tonight arranging empty hospital beds and air mattresses around the campus, he said. About 70 staffers are prepared to shuttle people to and from the hospital if the snow makes it impossible for them to travel on their own.
At Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, the majority of physician practices affiliated with the hospital plan to close Wednesday, but patients should check first with their doctors, said Michael Schwartzberg, a GBMC spokesman.
The hospital, where some 4,500 births take place each year, has rescheduled some c-sections planned for tomorrow as well as some elective procedures, he said.
With this snowfall coming during a weekday -- typically busier for hospitals than weekends -- among the most important preparations is having enough staff and keeping roadways clear, he said.
Some clinicians have already put in marathon hours. Schwartzberg told me the story of a nurse who stayed in the emergency room last Friday through Sunday, catching a few hours of sleep here and there on a stretcher. She's back today, with an overnight bag, and expected to stay until Friday.
"People are really coming together, doing jobs that aren’t normally their jobs," he said. "People are going above and beyond."






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