Making It Through the Storm

A storm is coming.

First and foremost, I want to send out thoughts and prayers to those who have been experiencing the onslaught of Hurricane Ida, those still in its upcoming path, and those who will no doubt feel the devastating impacts of its passing.

Over the past few days, I’ve been struck watching the weather reports, the incredible detail of the tracking we have that has shown this storm forming and moving inexorably toward the Gulf Coast. Adding insult to injury is the fact that this is happening right on the anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina many years ago.

Once again, we’ve gotten to watch from afar the predictions of storm surge and wind speeds that were approaching so many people, and the satellite and photographic images from space have been terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. On the ground, I know there have been Herculean efforts by so many people on the front lines, from the kindest little things that neighbors have done to help each other out, to the massive efforts of government intervention trying to shore things up and help ensure everyone can make it safely through the storm.

Watching the early footage of waves battering the shore, wind blowing the roofs off buildings, dumpsters sliding down streets, and cars floating away has reminded us of the incredible power of Mother Nature, and how little we can do in the face of that might. We’ve just started to learn about the impacts of this storm, and while we hope and pray that the loss of life and property are minimal, we all fear that we will learn more in the coming days about the consequences of this event.

Thinking about the healthcare system that has been already so overtaxed with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the incredible burden borne by the southern states right now, we can only imagine what’s been going on inside the hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the path of the storm as they’ve been preparing for it, and what it’s been like going through it. So many of our colleagues in medical practices, hospital emergency departments, inpatient floors, and ICUs are already so stressed and burned out that this somehow feels like such an incredible and unfair additional burden to ask them to bear. But bear it they must, and bear it they will, and no one doubts that everyone down there will do whatever they can to help patients and communities survive this additional blow.

We know that many lessons have been learned over the years as storm-battered regions have seen stronger and fiercer storms hitting them — a clear consequence of climate change — and the healthcare system needs to be part of the overall processes and planning for how we adapt to our changing world. The storms that are coming, and the challenges that they bring with them, are emblematic of what we as a society, and especially the healthcare system, are facing every day.

As I’ve said so many times, it’s not enough just to put plywood up over the glass, and not enough just to send in Search & Rescue after the waters recede. We need to build a better system of early warning, a public health system that can help us see things coming, and be better at knowing what’s coming at us, rather than reacting to it after it’s already here. We need to marshal the forces, from the smallest clinics to the largest academic medical centers and private hospitals, to ensure that healthcare comes out all right at the other end, that the levees don’t break, that we stand by everyone who needs help, and that the first responders are there when someone reaches out to us from a flooded home.

Over and over again Mother Nature has been throwing one seemingly insurmountable challenge after another at us, and we need to strengthen our infrastructure and social safety nets and revamp our healthcare system to ensure that we can take whatever she comes up with next.

Stay safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Fred N. Pelzman, MD, of Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates and weekly blogger for MedPage Today, follows what’s going on in the world of primary care medicine from the perspective of his own practice.