It was like any other Sunday morning in any other intensive care unit across the country; the music was playing in the background and the coffee was brewing in the nurse’s break room as PICU nurses Terrie Holland, Monica Jones, Byron Hapgood, and Mancie White sat down to try and get their reporting completed before shift change. Only February 24, 2008 was a different Sunday at LSUHSC. Suddenly, at 4:30 a.m. they heard a tremendous rush of water as approximately 6,000 gallons per minute poured out of the break room and into an unoccupied adjacent room. A six inch sprinkler main pipe coupling had broken and like an uncontrolled blood vessel, water was hemorrhaging down the floors. It was almost providential that no patients were in that specific room and no staff members were taking a break in the alcove. Within minutes, the nurses moved into action and quickly moved the young children in the ICU to a safe harbor. At that time, only one of eleven elevators was operational, meanwhile the water continued to pour down the stairwells, the ceilings, the pipes, and the elevator shafts through to the ground floor.
In the next few hours, the Pediatric ICU, the worst floor affected, had knee deep water. Wading through the water, the nurses took the six babies that were there and moved them to the floor upstairs. In the Surgical and Brain ICU the nurses transported over thirty patients through water to a safer, higher floor. Once again it was fortunate, especially for the PICU, there were no children on ventilators that particular morning. All in all, more than sixty patients were transferred and not one person panicked. Instead of pandemonium, there was a quiet professionalism in all their actions.
Administration came in immediately and an effective triage took place. Although, the OR’s were not affected the MRI had water damage as well as some elevators.Dr. Clay and Mr. Miciotto cancelled all the operating rooms and elective surgeries as well as some of the clinics. In rapid succession, surgeries were rescheduled and additional operating rooms were opened at safer sites. Contractors came in, damage was assessed, and before you knew it work reconstruction was taking place at a breathtaking pace. There was an excellent communication system and LSUHSC seemed to be doing well with this internal “mini-Katrina.”
In the quotidian humdrum of our lives, sometimes we forget what happens with a crisis and how we react. I feel proud to say that several hundred members of an institution handled a crisis with a sense of grace that made sure not a single life was lost and no one was injured. There were inconveniences, delays, and reconstruction, but we were able to persevere through. Six weeks later the operating rooms were back to normal, the ICU’s were open and the Day Surgery was fully functional. Six months later all damage had been repaired and the MRI was fully operational. A year later, we have almost forgotten.In the 1990’s, Johnson and Johnson experienced a crisis with tampering of Tylenol with cyanide. People would study how they handled that crisis and use it as examples in successful crisis management. Years from now, those of us that went through this will remember the leadership of Dr. Clay and Mr. Miciotto in handling our internal “mini-Katrina” in a remarkable way. Admiral Chester Nimitz, once said, “Pre-occupation for the job at hand or a desire not to disturb the skipper should never result in disregard of the rapidly falling barometer.” On February 24, 2008, the nurses, residents, and other ancillary staff took charge of a rapidly falling barometer and did a superlative job.
