“The human being who lives only for himself finally reaps nothing but unhappiness. Selfishness corrodes. Unselfishness ennobles, satisfies. Don't put off the joy derivable from doing helpful, kindly things for others.”
~B.C. Forbes~
NYU Hospital Evacuation: Nurses Manually 'Breathed' For Babies After Hurricane Sandy Causes Power Outage.
As Hurricane Sandy barreled through the East Coast Monday, New York City took quite a hit. And, even with a backup generator, NYU's hospital in downtown Manhattan lost its power around midnight, a nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Huffington Post.
Medical staff distributed flashlights, then proceeded to evacuate 260 patients on "med sleds," at a pace of about one patient every 15 minutes.
“The evacuation continued all night," Lorinda Klein, an NYU spokeswoman, told The Huffington Post. “It was very slow and methodical.”
Among the patients evacuated, reports ABC News, were 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit. Because the hospital's respirators for infants do not have backup batteries, each of the infants required extra attention from nurses at the hospital.
At least four babies had to be carried to a waiting ambulance down nine flights of stairs while a nurse "breathed" for the infant by manually squeezing a bag to drive oxygen into the lungs.
Dr. Andrew Brotman, senior vice president and vice dean for clinical affairs and strategy at the hospital, described the process to CNN as "labor-intensive," and "extremely difficult."
But, he continued, "Everybody's digging in and doing what they have to do."
| By Ryan Grenoble The Huffington Post
Great post! Hurricane Sandy has definitely been one of the worst things New Jersey has come across, my family just happened to have a generator rental so that we didn't lose power but a lot of our friends got hit hard. I'm just hoping everyone can rebuild, thank you for sharing this with us.