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Louisiana Nurses Stay Behind During Hurricane Laura To Care For 19 Babies

August 29, 2020

Nurses at a hospital in Louisiana stayed behind and worked through Hurricane Laura to care for all of the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Credit: Leah Upton / via CNN

The residents of Lake Charles knew the hurricane was headed for their city, with a mandatory evacuation order in place.

But someone had to protect the babies at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

14 nurses, 2 nurse practitioners and 3 respiratory therapists stayed behind and watched over 19 babies through the storm.

"It's important to know the dedication of all the nurses and the respiratory therapists to keep taking care of the babies when they don't even know the condition of their homes," Dr. Juan Bossano told CNN. "In a small town like this, people have to pull together. I'm proud of them."

Some of the babies were born premature, some were on respirators and ventilators. There was no air conditioning.

"It was scary for everyone," said Alesha Alford, the vice president of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. "When the winds got so bad, we had to move our patients into the hallways. Staff were sleeping in the hallways with patients."

Through the night, Bossano posted updates about the babies on his Facebook page knowing it was the easiest way to calm the fears of many of the parents.

The babies were doing "better than all of us," he wrote.

The hospital is currently in the process of transferring all of the babies to other hospitals in the state after the hurricane knocked out the water supply.