Hurricane Ian strikes HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Hurricane Ian swamped a Port Charlotte hospital from above and below.
The storm surge flooded its lower-level emergency room while fierce winds tore part of its fourth-floor roof from its intensive care unit, according to a doctor who works there.
Dr. Birgit Bodine spent the night at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, anticipating the storm would make things busy, “but we didn’t anticipate that the roof would blow off on the fourth floor,” she said.
Water gushed down Wednesday from above onto the ICU, forcing staff to evacuate the hospital’s sickest patients — some of them on ventilators — to other floors. Staff members resorted to towels and plastic bins...
