Panhandle hospitals still struggling after Michael
135 views · Published 25 October 2018 · 1:22 · Indexed 7 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(19 Oct 2018) Medical services in the Florida Panhandle are still on life support more than a week after Hurricane Michael. The two major hospitals in Panama City, Bay Medical and Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center, still aren't admitting patients. Only emergency room services are available at either. Special disaster teams are providing care in tents set up outside the hospitals. Patients with the most serious needs have been sent to other hospitals by ambulance or helicopter. Suffering from strep throat and asthma made worse by trying to clean out a soggy home that's full of mold after Hurricane Michael, Aleeah Racette went to the hospital where she began life, Bay Medical Blessed Heart. She was stunned by what she saw. The exterior wall is missing from one part of the building, and huge vent tubes attached to fans blow air into upper floors through holes where windows used to be. Plywood signs lettered in green spray paint point to the entrance of the emergency room, the only part of the hospital still operating. The two major hospitals in Panama City, Bay Medical and Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center, still aren't admitting patients more than a week after Michael, with only emergency room services available at either. Patients with the most serious needs have been sent to other hospitals by ambulance or helicopter. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b42a3d8607da841a2b449f78d7d2fcaa
