Lourdes Associates Helped Health System Hospitals Weather the Storm

This afternoon, Lourdes Health System President and CEO, Alexander J. Hatala, issued the following statement on the status of the health system's facilities and the impact of Hurricane Sandy.

"Both Lourdes hospitals lost power and switched to back-up generator power. Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center was under generator power for six hours until PSE&G restored regular service. Power at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County (LMCBC) was mostly restored at 1 p.m. today. As of 4:30 p.m., one portion of LMCBC and its nearby Professional East Building of physician offices were still running on generator power. The power outages did not impact the provision of services. There were minor interruptions in radiology services, but we were able to provide all required services within our hospital system.

There was no flooding at our hospital facilities, and only minor leaks. None of the leaks impacted patient care services. Some outpatient and elective procedures were suspended late yesterday and today out of concerns about patients and family members traveling to the hospitals during the storm.

Lourdes Medical Associates (LMA) and Lourdes Cardiology Services (LCS) physician practices were closed yesterday and today due to the state of emergency. This includes Osborn Family Health Center. In addition, LIFE at Lourdes day center was closed. Normal operations at the hospitals and LMA/LCS offices will resume tomorrow.

At our Central Business Office in Riverside, substantial power outages caused the building to be shut down. Finance, payroll and central scheduling staff worked off-site and at the hospitals to maintain operations. Late this afternoon, power was restored and the staff is now working to restore connectivity. We expect the office to return to normal operations tomorrow.

I would like to recognize all of the Lourdes associates for the way that they mobilized in this weather emergency. Associates at all levels played important roles in organizing and implementing the emergency response. I am personally very thankful for the dedicated team we have. In addition to the staff who worked the overnight shift, nearly 200 associates slept at the hospitals last night to ensure adequate staffing for the evening and today. Many people assisted in providing transportation for employees and patients. It is a tremendous team effort. I especially want to thank our Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Planning teams who organized our response and ensured no disruption in essential patient services."

Further updates can be found at www.lourdesnet.org or follow us on Facebook (fb.com/lourdeshealthsystem) and Twitter (@lourdeshealth).

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For media inquiries, please contact Carol Lynn Daly at dalyc@lourdesnet.org or (215) 450-9329.

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