Texas hospital campus rebounds from Ike's blow

[TexasTowelie]

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — The morning after Hurricane Ike crashed into Galveston Island six years ago, David Callender surveyed the sea of mud coating the 84-acre University of Texas Medical Branch campus.

The UTMB president saw oak tree limbs blocking the doors to John Sealy Hospital, which would be knocked out of service for the rest of the year. The 13-foot storm surge caused $1 billion in damage, plunging UTMB's finances into the red and prompting the layoffs of nearly 3,000 workers. A consultant even recommended that the hospital be moved off the island, an idea that found favor with the University of Texas Board of Regents and a few legislators.

Six years later, UTMB is not only off life support, it appears to have made a full recovery.

The university is close to completing more than $1 billion in improvements and repairs to protect against future hurricanes, ranging from moving essential functions to a higher level to adding protective walls that can rise around certain buildings.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/texas-hospital-campus-rebounds-from-ike-s-blow/article_28e1b8f6-3585-11e4-8711-001a4bcf887a.html

[Gothmog]

1. Galveston was hit hard by Ike

I am glad that John Sealy Hospital has fully recovered

[ashling]

2. My dad went to school there in WWII

in the Navy. He taught there in the late 50s. I was 4 1/2 when we moved from North Texas (we stayed in the nurses dormitory until we found a house to rent a few blocks from the seawall on 61st)
My little brother got his MD there in the 80s.