NewsNational News

Actions

Louisiana hospital staff stayed behind during hurricane to care for 19 NICU babies

Louisiana hospital staff stays behind during hurricane to care for 19 newborns in NICU
Posted at 6:42 AM, Sep 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-01 10:30:27-04

LAKE CHARLES, La. – They say, "not all heroes wear capes," and a group of hospital workers in Louisiana proved that.

Despite raging winds, rain leaking through windows, no running water and no air conditioning, nurses and other staff at a Lake Charles hospital kept their most critical baby patients safe and sound during Hurricane Laura last week.

The team of 20 stayed behind at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital while the Category 4 storm tore through the city. They cared for 19 babies in their NICU.

Some of the babies were on respirators and ventilators, and others had been born extremely premature.

Many of the infants had been at the community’s smaller women's hospital. They had to be transported through rough conditions to the larger facility where they rode out the storm.

The babies have since been transferred to other hospitals across the state because the hospital was still without water as of Thursday night.