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How a Louisiana Medical Team Protected COVID-19 Patients as Hurricane Laura
Ravaged Lake Charles

Matt Haines

   NEW ORLEANS - Louisianians woke upWednesday, Aug. 26 to news that Laura
   would be arriving as a Category 4 hurricane.

   The storm was expected tohit Lake Charles early Thursday morning.

   Throughoutthe day, doctors,nurses,maintenance and cafeteria
   workersfilled Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.The plan wasforseveral
   shifts of employeesto bereadyoncethewindspickedup that night.Whole
   floors were designated as sleeping areas for off-duty staff.

   Dr. Gary Kohler, a pulmonary critical care physician, arrived for his
   shift at 6:30 a.m.He remembered sensing how nervous everyone was in
   those hours before the storm.

   "No one wanted to be alone," he said. "When we were on break, a lot of
   us would sit around a table together. It was a shared fear of not
   knowing what was coming."

   In 2005,the hospitalwasevacuated before Hurricane Ritaarrivedand
   devastated the city. Hurricane Laura was predicted to bemore
   ferocious.But this time,there werenoplans toleave.

   "You can't help but wonder what's going to hold and what isn't,both at
   the hospital, but also at your home,"Kohler said.

   Thecalmbefore

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