Delaware Valley Hospitals Prepared For Wrath Of Hurricane Irene
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hospitals in the Delaware Valley say they're ready for whatever Irene may bring.
Many have made more beds available and have made arrangements to keep enough doctors, nurses, and support staff on hand.
That's the case at Crozer-Keystone Medical Center in Delaware County.
"We evaluated those patients that might be appropriate for discharge so that we could have beds ready in the event that members of our community needed the attention," said spokeswoman Kathy Scullin. "Staffing levels are normal. Everybody who was supposed to come in today came in. If people need to stay overnight this evening, we're making accommodations for our staff at all of our hospitals."
They've been preparing for Irene for several days at Abington Hospital in Montgomery County.
"We have our generators in order in case we would need backup power, so we're prepared there. And we also have about 200 of our staff members staying overnight," said Lisa Kirby, the patient care services supervisor.
Kirby says they worked to discharge patients who were ready to go home ahead of the storm.
"We're perfectly prepared to take any amount of patients here. We have plenty of beds, plenty of ICU beds," said Kirby.
Lankenau, Bryn Mawr, Paoli, and Riddle Hospitals have an emergency planning team that's been working over the past week to ensure there are enough medical professionals on hand for what could be an influx of patients.
"All of the hospitals have made sure that there were protocols in place so that staff could stay overnight if they need to.
Several of the area hotels have had rooms blocked off for staff. And we would always make sure we have beds available to accommodate any patients that came through," said Bridget Therriault of Main Line Health.
Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio
