As Hurricane Matthew approached the Treasure Coast, most of Vero Beach was in full shutdown mode, but Indian River Medical Center was still in the game, with medical personnel prepping for life-saving surgery and babies about to be born.
Long-planned weddings, art shows, concerts and even the 19th Circuit Court had all come to screeching halts. But at the hospital, things were about to get interesting.
“Just before midnight [Thursday night],” recalls Dr. Clark Beckett, of Vero Vascular Surgery, “I was called by Dr. Stacie Griffis. She had a patient in the critical care unit. A very elderly man who, the day before, had fallen and in this fall he sustained a pelvic fracture.”
“I head over to the ICU,” Beckett continues, “and his right foot and leg are ice cold.”
The fall had caused a blood clot and Beckett knew he needed to act fast.
“I’m realizing his leg can only last a number of hours. If you don’t get it in time, you lose nerve function, muscle dies and you lose an extremity. It is a bona fide emergency.”
Indeed, a blood clot anywhere in the body can be fatal, and as the barometric pressure began to drop outside, the surgical pressure was starting to rise inside IRMC.
Meanwhile, one day earlier, OB/GYN Dr. George Fyffe at Partners in Women’s Health had a visit from expectant mother Danielle Prue, whose life was about to change in another way.
“We saw Danielle in the office Wednesday,” recalls Fyffe, “and we thought she needed additional evaluation so we sent her to the hospital. We understood there was going to be a hurricane so we decided to keep her in the hospital.”
Danielle’s husband, Todd, who was busy putting up storm shutters on the couple’s house, got a call from his wife saying, “I’m not coming home. We’re going to have a baby.”
Three days later, labor was induced and a little girl, Ryleigh Prue, was born.
By the end of the weekend, Ryleigh was joined by three more hurricane babies at the Vero hospital’s maternity ward.
Flashing back in time to Thursday night, Beckett began to form his team.
After examining the elderly patient, Beckett says, “I walked back over toward the operating room and I see one of our surgical nurses who works with me all the time, Gail Johnson, and a surgical tech who also works with me named Amber Ramlal. I just happened to get lucky.”
“I told them, ‘We’ve got a case,’ and they were instantly ready to go. “
By 4:30 a.m. Friday the surgery is complete. The patient is safely in the surgical intensive care recovery room and, according to Beckett, doing very well.
So, while the rest of Vero was in shutdown mode, 300 hospital staff members and 163 patients (167 counting the new arrivals) rode out the storm while saving one life and adding four new ones.
“The hospital,” says Beckett, “is always ready for hurricanes. Obviously we have lots of plans for the hospital staff, for administration and for the medical staff, so we’re always ready. Every physician, every surgeon who’s on-call for the emergency room is in-house. By 6 a.m. on Thursday, we were all supposed to be in-house until it all passed.”
Dr. Clark Beckett is with Vero Vascular Surgery at 3770 7th Terrace, Vero Beach. The phone number is 772-567-6602. Dr. George Fyffe is with Partners In Women’s Health at 1050 37th Place. The phone number is 772-770-6116.
