After 'historic' Helene, North Carolina hospitals are running, but impassable roads cause problems

When Hurricane Helene made its way toward the southeastern states, much attention was deservedly focused on Florida, and some coastal communities took a pounding from the storm.

Heavy flooding in North Carolina has closed hundreds of roads. Hospitals are operating and have water and power, but the flooded and damaged roads are making it difficult to get to facilities.

However, the heavy rains produced extraordinary flooding in North Carolina, with hundreds of roads in the western part of the state blocked, damaged, or simply wiped out, according to state officials. On Monday, days after Helene’s arrival, state officials urged the public not to travel in the western part of the state to keep roads free for emergency vehicles, and because many roads simply aren’t passable.

Even with hundreds of thousands in the state without electricity Monday, North Carolina hospitals are up and running, and they have power, says SarahLewis Peel, a communications manager for the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services.

“All of our acute care hospitals in storm-impacted areas have power at this time,” she said via email to Chief Healthcare Executive® Monday afternoon. “Local and state emergency management agencies are working closely with hospitals and healthcare facilities in storm-impacted areas to understand and respond to their needs.”

More than 125 deaths have been attributed to the storm, according to an Associated Press tally. Asheville and other surrounding communities suffered catastrophic flooding. In Erwin, Tennessee, a rural community which is very close to western North Carolina, heavy flooding swamped Unicoi County Hospital and forced dozens to flee to the roof before they could be evacuated via helicopter.

Mission Hospital, an affiliate of HCA Healthcare, is based in Asheville, which has suffered widespread power outages. More than 100 HCA Healthcare nurses from other facilities have traveled to North Carolina to help serve patients and provide relief for caregivers at Mission Hospital, the system said.

‘The biggest obstacle’

Communities in the western part of North Carolina suffered horrific flooding and damage, says Tatyana Kelly, senior vice president for planning and strategy for the North Carolina Healthcare Association.

“Western North Carolina is not an area of the country where we're normally seeing hurricane impact to the level that we got,” Kelly says. “It’s a historic storm that dumped many, many inches of water in a very short period of time, and the area has experienced significant flooding.”

Some hospitals experienced intermittent outages over the weekend, but hospitals have power and water and they are serving patients, Kelly says.

“There's definitely some cleanup to be done, and there's definitely some water damage to remediate. But everybody's open for business, which is great news,” Kelly says.

Hundreds of roads in North Carolina have been closed due to flooding, damage or debris, impeding access to hospitals.

However, with so many roads flooded, it’s difficult for ambulances and staff to get to some hospitals. Plus, with roads that are flooded, damaged or choked with fallen trees and other debris, the delivery of medication and other essentials is impeded.

The impassable roads are “the biggest obstacle” for hospitals and health systems, Kelly says.

Emergency management and medical personnel have been going into hard-hit communities to assess damage and see who needs help. Hospitals are coordinating with state emergency officials.

“The state emergency operations center is doing heroic work to make sure that if roadways aren't actually able to be functional, that we're establishing a pathway to communities, and also making sure that there's access to emergency services as folks need them, to make sure that we've at least chartered a route, even if we can't get that particular roadway open,” Kelly says.

While hospitals are open, Kelly says some outpatient facilities and physician clinics are closed.

Fund for hospital workers

The North Carolina Healthcare Foundation has activated its disaster relief fund to help hospital employees that have been affected by the storm and suffered property damage.

“These are the kind of folks that tend to be at hospitals for an extended period of time to make sure they keep the doors open and keep receiving folks and helping folks in need during these disasters, while not knowing the status of their own home and their family members and their pets and their belongings and their shelter,” Kelly says. “They do their heroic work at great personal sacrifice.”

Hospitals made preparations ahead of the storm and are experienced in “conservation techniques,” so health systems aren’t facing a severe supply crunch, Kelly says. She said state officials have been working with hospitals to get them supplies.

But Kelly says hospitals and health systems are going to need blood and made a pitch for donors.

“It's really important for folks in the central and eastern part of the states to know that one of the many ways that they can help is by donating blood,” Kelly says. “We are always in a real shortage of blood, and incidents like this have a greater demand for that. So if you want to help and you want to do something today, that is something that you can do.”

Kelly also discouraged even well-intentioned volunteers from showing up to help, given the difficulties with access in western North Carolina.

“Don't ‘self deploy’ to try and help,” Kelly said. “There's a lot of effort going on to try and make sure that folks get what they need. And it's important to make sure that we let the first responders do what they do best.”

Ahead of the storm, several Florida hospitals evacuated and transferred patients to other facilities. Health systems across Florida and Georgia closed clinics and ambulatory surgery centers before Helene’s arrival.