Status of the storm

According to weather forecasters at the National Weather Center, Isaac is expected to make landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River during the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 29 as a Category 1 hurricane. Tulane Medical is making all necessary preparations for the storm. Please review the following information.

Facility Information – What’s Open and Closed

• On Tuesday, Aug. 28 and Wednesday, Aug. 29 all scheduled outpatient services will be closed. This includes outpatient radiology and clinics. Patients can call 504-988-5800 to reschedule appointments.
• All elective surgeries and procedures scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 28 and Wednesday, Aug. 29 are being rescheduled. Patients can call 504-988-5800 to reschedule appointments.
• The Downtown Emergency Department will be open and accepting ambulance and walk-in patients until such time as the weather does not permit. We will be updating the EMSystem on our status.
• The Lakeside Emergency Department will only be accepting emergencies OB patients on Tuesday, Aug. 28 and Wednesday, Aug. 29.

Employee expectations for work

• The hospitals will be on lockdown beginning at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 28. All staff who are expected to be at the hospitals for the duration of the storm should arrive before noon tomorrow.
• Room assignments & armbands will be given out beginning at 7:30 am Tuesday morning.
• Non essential staff should not report to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you do not have enough PTO, you can use a negative amount up to 24 hours.
• Garage access will be limited to ESSENTIAL staff only.
• Access to the hospital will be limited to the LaSalle entrance on the 2nd floor (crosswalk).

Employee Communication Tools

If you provided your Director with your alternate email and phone number information earlier this year, you can expect updates via text message and email on your personal device.

Employees can use the following communication tools to get the latest updates:

• Intranet Home page
• Internet: TulaneHealthcare.com
• 504-988-6666 Emergency Preparedness Phone Line
• Tulane Medical Center FaceBook page (please like us if you haven’t already) and follow us on Twitter @tulanemedical. Links to both are available at TulaneHealthcare.com.
• If you need to contact the hospital during the storm you can send emails to: Tuhc_Isaac@hcahealthcare.com. Please use this site to let us know if you have evacuated to a place where we need an additional contact number to reach you.

External/Patient Communication

• We are calling scheduled patients regarding facility closure and rescheduling appointments.
• Patients with questions or concerns can call the main hospital phone line at 504-988-5800.
• Updates will be posted on our Internet site: TulaneHealthcare.com as well as FaceBook and Twitter.