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Hurricane Michael updates
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As you have most likely seen from the news coverage, Hurricane Michael has had a devastating impact on the Panama City, Florida community. We at HCA Healthcare are helping to ensure our patients, colleagues, and hospitals are safe in the aftermath of the storm.
Prior to landfall, we prepared HCA Healthcare-affiliate hospitals throughout the region. Those preparations included staffing, supplies, and generator power to help ensure their ability to continue operating and caring for patients during and after the storm. Beginning Monday, we also safely transferred some of our sickest patients from affiliate Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center, which is located in Panama City, to other HCA Healthcare hospitals.
Hurricane Michael made landfall Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle as a very strong category 4 storm, causing extreme infrastructure challenges in the community. Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center also sustained substantial damage from the storm and, while there was no impact on patient care, we began transferring 130 patients to other sister facilities to ensure patient safety and continuity of care.
To serve the area’s crucial need for emergency care, Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center’s emergency room will remain open to treat and stabilize emergency patients as they arrive.
Our focus is also on supporting our colleagues and physicians in the impacted areas. We have provided resources to help, including a dedicated HCA Healthcare HR Answers Hotline, and the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund, the company’s employee assistance nonprofit organization, for emergency and recovery assistance.
To further help this community in its time of need, HCA Healthcare has made a $1 million gift to the Red Cross. This donation is in addition to the $500,000 gift made previously to support Hurricane Florence relief.
HCA Healthcare is fortunate to have such dedicated employees, physicians, nurses, and support staff. Though a hurricane of this magnitude poses significant challenges, we are confident that our diligent preparations and steadfast commitment to our patients and our people will help us through the days ahead.
Photos courtesy of Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.
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About HCA Healthcare
HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, is comprised of 183 hospitals and more than 2,300 sites of care, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Our more than 283,000 colleagues are connected by a single purpose — to give patients healthier tomorrows.
As an enterprise, we recognize the significant responsibility we have as a leading healthcare provider within each of the communities we serve, as well as the opportunity we have to improve the lives of the patients for whom we are entrusted to care. Through the compassion, knowledge and skill of our caregivers, and our ability to leverage our scale and innovative capabilities, HCA Healthcare is in a unique position to play a leading role in the transformation of care.
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