Story behind evacuating NICU infants from Hurricane Harvey

reg Elders will let you know what he did Thursday was simply one other day on the workplace. But the longtime respiratory therapist’s workplace simply so occurs to be a jet carrying NICU sufferers to security.

“You don’t do this for monetary reasons,” Elders stated. “You do this because you love it.”

Elders was one in every of 18 members of the Children’s Health Dallas transport crew that flew to Corpus Christi to evacuate critically sick kids from Hurricane Harvey’s path. Doctors determined it was too dangerous to maintain the weak infants close to the storm in case energy went out. In all 10 kids made their approach to Dallas.

“We’re talking about really sick children,” Elders stated. “They shouldn’t even be outside of their mom’s womb.”

Michelle Smith was additionally part of the crew. The longtime NICU nurse has expertise with hurricanes working throughout Katrina. During that story she went to get better kids after the hurricane hit and says it was a catastrophe.

“Everything was flooded,” Smith stated. “We had to land on rooftops.”

This time crews acted forward of the storm however dad and mom weren’t capable of make the flight. The small planes might solely match sufferers and the crew tending to them.

“I saw one young mom saying goodbye to a baby she loves very much,” Smith stated. “We don’t take lightly the responsibility of caring for their children.”

Children’s Health labored alongside Cooks Children’s in Fort Worth and hospitals in Corpus to get the kids to North Texas. Most of the dad and mom are driving up at this time to be with their kids because the storm bares down on their dwelling. The kids’s at the moment are being handled at Cooks.