HCA’s Mission Hospital In North Carolina Still Without Running Water Days After Hurricane Helene Hits

Dive Brief:

• HCA Healthcare’s Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina remains without running water more than six days after Hurricane Helene decimated the western part of the state, nurses told Healthcare Dive.
• Surgeries have been delayed due to a lack of clean supplies and hundreds of road closures have prevented some staff from appearing for scheduled shifts, the nurses said.
• HCA’s CEO Sam Hazen said supporting Mission was its “primary focus” in an email to employees reviewed by Healthcare Dive. HCA bussed in more than 100 frontline workers from Tennessee to help support Mission’s operations. The system has also sent critical supplies, including bottled water, fuel and mobile units for kitchens, bathrooms and handwashing. 

Dive Insight:

HCA began preparing for Hurricane Helene’s impact to its Western North Carolina portfolio — which includes seven hospitals and thousands of employees — five days before the storm made landfall, according to the email from Hazen.

Nurses who were scheduled to work on Friday morning, for example, were asked to stay overnight on Thursday to ensure they could make it to their shifts, said Kelly Coward, a registered nurse at Mission Hospital.

In total, HCA filled Mission with 1,200 workers in advance of the storm, more than it’s typically staffed, according to an HCA spokesperson.

Still, the size of the storm and its ferocity was largely unexpected, as Helene brought record rain and historic floods to the region.

Mission was without power for two days over the weekend, forcing them to go to manual patient charting, nurses said. Road closures prevented some staff, including registered nurse Kerri Wilson, from reaching the hospital for scheduled shifts over the weekend.

However, by Monday morning Duke Energy had restored power at the hospital and most roads were clear, nurses said.

Mission Hospital still has not regained running water. It’s expected to take weeks for access to water to be restored region-wide, due to widespread damage to the water system.

Healthcare workers typically use running water in abundance for tasks ranging from handwashing to sterilization. They’re getting creative in its absence. 

Nurses are using five gallon buckets to flush toilets, according to Wilson, who estimated she manually flushed 80 toilets with buckets during her most recent shift. 

Some equipment is being sent two hours away to Charlotte, North Carolina for proper cleaning. The lack of basic supplies is creating backlogs in patient care as “fairly simple procedures” are delayed due to a lack of clean, sterile equipment, Coward said.

Wilson agreed, adding, “There are patients who have been waiting several days on open heart surgery… but we can’t move forward because we don’t have running water.”

The surgical delays are creating backlogs in the emergency department. As of Monday, the ED was at double capacity, with some patients doubling up on rooms, according to the nurses.

In his email to staff, Hazen said that HCA is now supporting Mission with “everything we have,” including providing daily fuel and water trucks.

“The infrastructure in most of these communities for water, electricity, and cell service is non-operational,” Hazen said. “As you can imagine, this creates tremendous challenges for our hospitals, but our colleagues are showing their strength, compassion, and unwavering commitment through these difficult days. They are truly inspirational to me, and I know to others who are witnessing their dedication.”

The health system also said it will also donate $1 million to disaster relief organizations, split between the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, the American Red Cross of North Carolina and other community partners.

In total, 22 acute care hospitals operate in Western North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Many are open but significantly hindered.

As of Tuesday, 20 had commercial power and two were still on generator power, according to the NCDHHS. “Many” were still reliant on temporary water. 

Health systems from the greater region are stepping in to help address some need. UNC Health, for example, has offered free telehealth visits for patients impacted by Helene.