Infections, sewage and mosquito-borne illness outlast hurricanes
Updated 10:22 a.m. ET Oct. 15, 2024
Health systems face lingering challenges after hurricanes, which are rapidly intensifying in a warming climate.
Since Hurricane Helene, it's been a colossal undertaking to get clean water at Asheville's Mission Hospital, the only designated trauma center in western North Carolina.
Hospitals like Mission need potable water for staff to sanitize equipment, clean wounds and simply wash their hands with soap. Other facilities − such as Asheville's Planned Parenthood clinic and local birthing centers − were forced to cut key health services because they didn't have running water.
The surrounding community has been battling an array of public health challenges in the aftermath of the historic deluge in late September, including residents' risk of being exposed to sewage, toxic industrial waste and mosquito-borne illnesses.
However, experts say the lack of potable water is the area's biggest concern. Without it, residents are limited in their access to nutrition and sanitation and more likely to be exposed to disease and infections, according to Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s infectious diseases division, in Boston.
Overwhelmed hospitals are struggling to treat new and existing patients as they cart in truckloads of water and dig new wells.
“You're going to have patients that have short-term injuries that end up being chronic issues,” Marquita Lyons-Smith, director of North Carolina Central University’s nursing program, told USA TODAY. “Because they were not taken care of immediately, given the attention they deserve.”
Before the storm, many rural communities were already facing hospitals shuttering, putting care farther from reach, she said.
Contaminated water, infections abound
Each day, Mission Hospital brings more than 30 trucks to pump more than 200,000 gallons of water into the facility, according to hospital spokesperson Nancy Lindell. The facility is considering drilling additional wells so its HVAC units can continue to regulate indoor temperatures.
The hospital and region are stymied because water pipes are damaged, and sewage and chemical toxins have contaminated the water supply, making residents vulnerable to diarrheal diseases, fever, dehydration and other ailments.