HOUSTON — As Hurricane Ida roared ashore, heroic doctors and nurses at New Orleans hospitals continued to care for their patients, despite storm damage and a massive power outage.
Forced to rely on backup generators, many of them have reached out to Houston hospitals for help.
Oschner Health – Louisiana’s largest hospital system – is evacuating some patients out of New Orleans. One of the tiniest ones arrived by helicopter at Texas Children's Hospital Tuesday evening.
TCH said two more critically ill babies are expected to be airlifted tonight.
"Oschner actually reached out to us last night with several young infants that they need to transfer that need urgent intervention," Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, the chief of critical care, told KHOU 11's Stephanie Whitfield. "We’re hoping to get those babies, young children, to us by the end of the day. It won’t be easy once its dark, but hopefully we can start receiving those children today."
Texas Children’s has also received requests to transfer pediatric patients from several other New Orleans hospitals.
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In many cases, hospitals are evacuating the most critical patients due to concerns about power outages. They don’t want to risk the patients’ health if their generators fail too.
Dr. Shekerdemian says the logistics of getting patients out safely is difficult because of the storm damage, but TCH will accept all patients who need help.
Some other Houston hospitals say they don't have room for transfers because the fourth wave of COVID-19 has left them with no extra beds.
WATCH: More coverage of Hurricane Ida