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"We did have a little bit of a problem because the Norfolk facility is a large facility," Vinson said. "Working under pressure without much sleep and without regular meal breaks was quite a challenge to all of us." The biggest stress nurses and others felt was being away from their homes and families during the hurricane, Vinson said.

Home away from home

Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, Va., handled part of that problem by letting employees bring their children to work with them, said Robin Doyle, RN, vice president for nursing. The hospital has a day care center in a separate building. The staff there moved into the hospital to care for employees' children for 2½ days.

"That way, the employees felt a lot more comfortable being in the building," said Doyle, who has worked at the 187-bed hospital her entire 26-year career. "We ended up providing child care for about 60 children of our employees."

Doyle said the hurricane's approach coincided with a disaster planning task force meeting scheduled for Sept. 15, three days before the hurricane struck. The task force devoted the meeting to planning for Hurricane Isabel. By the time Isabel hit, the hospital had seven days of medical supplies, including linens, 10 days of drinking water and five to seven days' worth of food.

"One of the things we did a little bit differently this time was we actually went out and bought some cots," Doyle said. "We had to make use of conference rooms and things that are not necessarily well-suited for getting a good night's sleep."

Doyle said the hospital made sure it had enough people on hand to cover a full shift with about one-third as many more people on hand in order to rotate people between duty and rest. The hospital began restricting staff to the hospital Sept. 17, meaning they weren't allowed to go home.

"If I had a nurse scheduled to be here and work a day shift on Thursday and a day shift on Friday, I required her to spend the night here on Thursday night," Doyle said, "because I couldn't guarantee if she went home on Thursday night that she could get back here on Friday morning."

Some complained about the situation, but Doyle said she couldn't let people leave until she had assurance from police and fire department personnel that it was safe to be on the streets and that she would have enough people coming in to care for patients.

She said some employees found the hospital more comfortable than their own homes. Some went without electricity for two weeks and Doyle said many packed up belongings and returned to the hospital, where they had showers, washers and dryers and air conditioning.

Salmon of The Outer Banks Hospital said the staff handled things exceptionally well and with few complaints, other than growing weary of the chicken salad sandwiches that dietary services prepared before they left.

"By Friday afternoon, we were sitting around the table discussing what our first meal would be after we left the hospital," she said.

Contact Scott Williams at scottwilliams21@msn.com