Medical care continues to be offered to those impacted by Sunday’s tornado

ALBANY — Hospitals in Southwest Georgia and the Southwest Public Health District were among those offering aid to victims impacted by Sunday’s tornado, ranging from treatment of traumatic injuries to assisting with recovery.

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, along with sister campus Phoebe North, saw dozens of storm-related injury patients, causing a temporary diversion in ambulance traffic.

“Phoebe Putney Health System remains in direct contact with emergency management officials who are leading the response to the devastating tornado that hit Dougherty County Sunday afternoon,” said Jessica Castle, vice president of marketing for Phoebe Putney Health System. “As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, we had treated 26 patients in the Emergency Department at Phoebe North and 19 patients in the Phoebe Main ED. Of those, eight patients were admitted, and two were still being treated in the emergency departments.

“We remain ready to serve the health care needs of any other victims of this natural disaster.”

Castle said Phoebe activated its command center and initiated its emergency response protocol Sunday afternoon, and that officials are expected to meet throughout the week to monitor the recovery process.

Meanwhile, several Phoebe employees have been sent to help staff a temporary medical clinic set up at New Birth Fellowship Christian Church at 2106 Radium Springs Road.

“This clinic will be open today from 1 p.m.-6 p.m. and tomorrow 8 a.m.–6 p.m. We will continue to evaluate the need as we go through the rest of the week,” Castle said Monday.

The temporary diversion to other hospitals applied to non-critical, non-storm-related patients to ensure space was available to treat all victims injured in the tornado while adjusting staffing to make sure patient needs could be met.

At 11 a.m. Monday, diversions were canceled due to the small number of patients coming in, Castle said.

“Phoebe also is working to help our employees affected by the storm, and the thoughts and prayers of the entire Phoebe family remain with everyone impacted by this tragedy,” she said.

Phoebe East, located on Sylvester Road, came away from the storm undamaged.

Liza Tillman, spokeswoman for Tift Regional Medical Center, said Tift Regional’s Cook Medical Center campus saw a total of 15 patients on Sunday related to the storms in Cook County. Of those, two were transferred to other facilities, two were admitted for observation and 11 were treated and discharged.

TRMC saw a total of 14 patients, including two who were transferred to other facilities, five admitted for observation and seven who were treated and discharged, Tillman said.

The 14 county health departments of the Southwest Public Health District, which includes Dougherty County, are offering free tetanus shots to those taking part in the recovery effort. The free shots, initially offered after the Jan. 2 storm, are now going to be available through the end of the month, said Carolyn Maschke, public information officer for the health district.

Maschke said Public Health has also provided assets to the response and recovery efforts such as trailers, first aid supplies and nursing support for responders.

Dougherty County Health Department Lead Environmentalist James C. Davis is urging restaurants and school cafeterias without power as a result of the tornado to contact his office at (229) 438-3943, where environmental health specialists are standing by.

“Our goal is to get you back to business as usual as quickly as possible,” Davis said. “Please call immediately.”