Hurricane plan involves special-needs children

• By STEVEN WARD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 8, 2009

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The state Department of Health and Hospitals has implemented a new plan to address the needs of children dependent on medical technology in case of a loss of power during hurricane season, department Secretary Alan Levine said.

The new plan is a response to problems some families had during Hurricane Gustav in accessing medical help for their toddlers who use ventilators to breathe.

“I can tell you this. I have the phone number of every hospital CEO in the state in my Blackberry. I will do whatever it takes to make sure a technology-dependent child is taken care of,” Levine said.

Two Baton Rouge families had problems finding a place for their special-needs children during Gustav, leading them to lobby the state for a special medical needs shelter or a designated hospital.

Joe and Bridget Wallace had problems in August finding a place to bring their then-15-month-old son, William, in the days leading up to Gustav’s strike on Baton Rouge.

William Wallace cannot breathe without a ventilator and has gone though numerous surgeries, suffers from cerebral palsy and bronchial pulmonary disease, has a full tracheotomy, suffered brain hemorrhages and seizures, and is nourished through a feeding tube, his parents said.

Kodi and Brad Wilson, employees of LSU, said their then-2-year-old son, Braden, suffers from Leigh’s disease, a rare neurometabolic disorder that affects the central nervous system.

At the time of Gustav, Braden couldn’t survive without oxygen and air conditioning, his mother said.

In the days leading up to Gustav and right after, Kodi Wilson said, she had to resuscitate her son six times because he stopped breathing.

Four days after Gustav, Braden had to have a tracheotomy and was put on a ventilator to breathe.

Like the Wallaces, there were no special-needs shelters or hospitals that would take the Wilsons’ son before he was eventually admitted to a local hospital.

Kodi Wilson said she was so upset, she put together a petition with more than 40 signatures and wrote a letter to the state’s first lady, Supriya Jindal, asking for the state to assist all special-needs children and their families during emergencies.

Kodi Wilson said she never received a response.