When emergency back-up generators at New York University Langone Medical Center-Tisch Hospital failed Monday night during Hurricane Sandy, nurses and first responders improvised. These heroes used their instincts, and relied on training exercises to dramatically save the lives over 200 patients, 20 whom were babies in the hospital's neonatal unit and 45 of whom were patients in critical condition. Some were on battery-operated respirators.
When the hospital's elevators ceased to function, nurses carried babies down nine flights of stairs in the dark, insulating and ventilating them, often manually pumping oxygen into the babies. Some nurses asked to be carried down in stretchers so they could keep the newborn babies close to their skins to ensure they were warm.
"It's a challenging situation," NYU Medical Dean Robert Grossman told WCBS-TV Monday night. "We drill all the time for this kind of thing. But this isn't a drill. This is the real thing."
According to Fox5 New York, patients were transferred from the adult critical unit, neo-natal intensive unit, pediatric critical care unit and obstetrics. Some patients were battling cancer. Patients were moved to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mount Sinai.
Jonathan LaPook, M.D., a medical correspondent for CBS,
arrived on the scene last and observed the hospital's lobby "was filled with doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and a command team of medical center personnel headed by Dr. Robert Grossman, the Dean and CEO of the medical center":
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