Hospitals and communities across the Southeast continue to assess and navigate the effects of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Sept. 26 in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm.
Eight updates:
1. The storm's death toll continues to climb. As of Sept. 30, at least 95 deaths were reported across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia, according to CNN.
2. Large portions of the region remain without power. As of 8:41 a.m. ET on Sept. 30, more than 2 million residents in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia didn't have power, according to poweroutage.us.
3. Hospitals in the region made preparation efforts ahead of the storm, with eight Florida hospitals evacuating ahead of it, and four hospitals switching to back-up generators the night of Sept. 26. In Tennessee, Ballad Health's Laughlin Healthcare Center in Greeneville, which operates a 90-bed skilled nursing facility, evacuated 33 patients to Wexford House in Kingsport over the weekend. In an update posted on social media, Ballad Health said Laughlin Healthcare Center will remain closed until utilities and the Greeneville water supply stabilize.
4. Ballad Health said its Greeneville Community Hospital and Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton, Tenn., have both suspended all services, though their emergency rooms remain open for local incoming patients. Elective procedures will resume on Sept. 30 at its facilities that are able to perform them, according to the Johnson City, Tenn.-based health system.
5. At Ballad Health's Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tenn., dozens of patients and team members were successfully rescued from the hospital's roof on Sept. 27 amid flooding from a nearby river. Affected patients were transferred to Johnson City Medical Center, and the hospital remains closed until further notice, the health system said.
6. HCA Healthcare's Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., relied on a backup generator for power until early Sept. 29, and had patients "doubled up in ER rooms," Hannah Drummond, RN, told the Citizen Times. The publication reported Sept. 29 that nurses were also directing patients without life-threatening conditions to a medical emergency shelter in Buncombe County.
7. Hospitals are expressing their gratitude and support for team members in the wake of the storm. The Florida Hospital Association posted on its Facebook page on Sept. 27: "Across Florida communities, hospital caregivers and staff have been working diligently around-the-clock to support patients and staff members…Thank you to our #HealthCareHeroes for putting your patients' needs above your own throughout and following the storm." At Ballad Health, its team member emergency fund is accepting donations that will benefit workers affected by the disaster.
8. Hospitals are also supporting community members. In a LinkedIn post over the weekend, Parinda Khatri, CEO of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Cherokee Health Systems, said the organization will be sending its mobile clinic to the most affected areas of Cocke County over the next few days. "Our team is coordinating with local officials to support recovery efforts where we are needed the most," she wrote. "We are currently focused on offering basic needs such as water, and healthcare."