There’s still little to no water pressure in Shreveport nearly two days after the city lost water due to the winter storm. That’s wreaking havoc on area hospitals.
Willis-Knighton Chief Administrative Officer Brian Crawford said it’s a struggle to stay operational.
“You don’t realize how much you use water until the resource is no longer available to you. From a hygiene issue in not being able to flush toilets we’re dealing with that, using snow and other water to manually flush the toilet,” said Crawford who added they’ve also had difficulty sterilizing equipment and washing linens without water.
Local companies are pitching in with oil tankers full of water and the National Guard has moved in to provide support with additional water tankers. Crawford said that’s helping them meet basic needs.
“So we can at least get water into our chiller and what that does is give us heat and cooling in areas that have to be cold like diagnostic areas like CT and MRI,” said Crawford.
Governor Edwards warned the water situation in Shreveport will likely persist even after the winter weather conditions go away.
Volunteers arrive to help transport hospital employees to work
Not only are hospitals without water, but the roads are also undrivable and Crawford said they’re having to get creative just to stay staffed up.
“I was along with other members of the administration that happen to have four-wheel pick up trucks out last night shuttling nurses, picking them up from all parts of town to make sure that we had them hear on time to be able to take care of patients,” said Crawford.
Staff are being housed at nearby hotels and stagged on cots once they rotate out of their shifts.
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