Culbertson: When did you first realize that Hurricane Andrew might hit Miami?

Cleveland: I actually realized it when my son called me from Atlanta at 6:00 on Sunday morning to say it was coming right at us. Prior to that time I did not realize that it was coming so close to Miami.

Culbertson: How did your experience with other hurricanes affect your expectations of Andrew?

Cleveland: Well, unfortunately, having grown up in Miami and lived through a great many hurricanes, I was not as up and prepared as I might have been thinking that it was going to be like one of the more recent ones that came close to Miami but actually didn’t have winds of over 3040 m.p.h.

Culbertson: What preparations did you make at home?

Cleveland: I took things off of the patio and I got in a couple of jugs of water.

Culbertson: What were your obligations /instructions with regard to your position as Medical Director of Perdue Nursing Home?

Cleveland: I was called and told at about 11:00 Sunday morning that the administration and the administration of Jackson Hospital had decided to evacuate the 160 patients at the Perdue Medical Center (19590 Old Cutler Road) to our other nursing home facility, Human Resources Health Center, which is at 2500 N.W. 22nd Avenue. This, of course, had been planned in advance, although never actually attempted. The evacuation began soon thereafter and lasted until about 4:00 in the afternoon, using buses, vans equipped to carry people in wheelchairs, and actually some ambulances to carry people who were lying down.

Culbertson: What preparations had to be made at other sites  i.e. clinics, jails, etc.?

Cleveland: The jails just simply locked down nobody come in, nobody come out they had food prepared enough. The clinics that were open just during the daytime also simply shut down. The Liberty City Clinic with which I was affiliated just simply closed, and did not open Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Actually, then we had a meeting on Wednesday noon with the’ administration at Jackson Hospital, and the Liberty City Clinic did open on Thursday and Friday and was the only one of the community center clinics that opened the end of that week.

Culbertson: Where were you during the hurricane?

Cleveland: I happened to be at the Human Resources Health Center which was the place that we evacuated people to from the Perdue Nursing Home.

Culbertson: How many patients were you responsible for?

Cleveland: Probably about 320, that’s 160 at each place. Because of course, you see, the people at the nursing home that we evacuated into had to be moved to some extent and moved around. We had people in the hallways, we had people in a wing that had not been used yet that had recently been built, and we had people in the dining room staying there.

Culbertson: What kind of special needs had to be addressed for the patients’ health during and after the hurricane?

Cleveland: A very interesting question. The first concern was that with this very crowded condition at the Human Resources Health Center, of course the electricity went off, we had a large generator which brought on the lights. Now there was about a three hour period when we didn’t even have the lights. But the generator brought on the lights and, fortunately, we had gas stoves which were purposely put there so that there could be cooking when the electricity was off, but there was no air conditioning at this very crowded place, and we brought in very large fans, like the fans that used to be in theaters, and stationed them along the halls and we monitored temperature in some of the people.’

Culbertson:What about special medical equipment that needed electricity?

Cleveland: Well, it turned out, and this had been planned well in advance, that one plug out of about six in each room was live with this generator. So any suction or any other medical equipment that was needed was plugged into that plug, and as it turned out it did not seem to be any ...we really didn’t have any problem with that. The worst problem by far was the heat, because of course this was August.

Culbertson: What were your concerns and thoughts during the hurricane?

Cleveland: Well, the biggest concern was the heat, because it got in some of the rooms up in the mid 90’s, and we’re talking about very frail elderly people who cannot tolerate a hot temperature like some younger person could.

Culbertson: How were the patients affected?

Cleveland: Interestingly enough, the patients that were evacuated from Perdue, immediately after the hurricane was over, I mean three hours after the hurricane was over... we’re still working under a generator, still didn’t have air conditioning, but the people at that point wanted to go back home. They did not want to stay at this new place. Little did they know there was extensive damage at the nursing home and they would not actually move back to the Perdue Medical Center for another month.

Culbertson: What did you do right after the hurricane?

Cleveland: I think probably what we did right after the hurricane was to check to be sure that our suppliers were OK, such as our drug suppliers, our headquarters down at Jackson Hospital, and some food purveyors, because here we had a place that they normally feed 200 people a day three meals, they were now feeding 400 people a day three meals... and that takes an awful lot of food. There was a great deal of innovation done by the kitchen to get those meals out as well.

Culbertson: When did you feel everyone was safe and comfortable?

Cleveland: Interestingly enough, very soon after the storm. I would say... the storm quit about 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning... by that noon we felt very secure about what was going to happen and what had occurred.

Culbertson: When were you able to go home?

Cleveland: I went home, let’s see, I stayed there Sunday and Monday night, and I went home Tuesday afternoon about 3:00.

Culbertson: What damage did your home sustain?

Cleveland: Nothing actually happened to my home except that my parking spot in this condominium lot had a tree, a large tree, that fell down, and had my car been there it would really have been damaged.

Culbertson: What was the damage to the Perdue Center from which you evacuated?

Cleveland: Extensive roof damage, extensive water damage, interestingly enough, one of the places that the water flooded in was in the kitchen, so it damaged a lot of the equipment even though we had prepared for it ...and then we had two porches built on the back of the facility that were big screen porches that probably thirty people could go into, that were wiped out of existence.

Culbertson: When were you able to move the patients back to Perdue?

Cleveland: Approximately thirty days after the hurricane.

Culbertson: Have you noticed changes in those patients since the hurricane?

Cleveland: Well, they talk about they were so glad to get back home that was the greatest thing  because, of course, they feel like that is their home. Other anxieties from the storm were not nearly as much as one might think.

Culbertson: How were the other facilities for which you are responsible affected?

Cleveland: Interestingly enough, not much. The jails, as I say, just locked down and they had enough food and there was virtually no damage in the jails. In the Liberty City Clinic, there was electricity out for just one day and that was all, of course that is in the North Miami area.

Culbertson: Has Jackson made any changes in plans for future hurricanes regarding the satellite facilities?

Cleveland: Yes. Our particular facility, at Human Resources, because what we needed ...what we actually ended up with during that 30 days between the hurricane and when the people left is one of these huge tractor trailer generators that also will run the air conditioning ...and they have made a commitment that at the satellite areas which are going to be open that they will bring one of those in...interestingly enough, the one that we got was from someplace in Orlando, and it may well have been something like Disneyworld, but a place that has a great many generators was offering them to people in South Florida.

Culbertson: So they plan to have those in place before?

Cleveland: Oh yeah, the thought is now to get it before the hurricane. And you see, because Human Resources has proven itself at being such a successful place to have people come, that it’s going to be marked forever and forever as a place and they want a tractor trailer sitting there.

Culbertson: Have there been any positive outcomes as the result of the hurricane at any of the facilities? Please describe.

Cleveland: Well, the only thing I can think of is that the hurricane did cause some FEMA monies to come into the South Florida facilities and it even extended up to our two in the north, and we had extra personnel and some sort of machines and things that were bought with the FEMA money, which of course were shortlived, but at least it demonstrated what we could do with extra personnel. For example, at our facility, at Liberty City, where I am now, FEMA money bought a van for two months which would go pick up the patients and also take the patients to a clinic appointment at Jackson Hospital. This past Friday was the last day for the van... the FEMA money ran out.

Culbertson: Have any of your personal plans for the future changed because of the hurricane?

Cleveland: Well, I’m sitting here with two great big sliding glass doors, and I think I’m going to try to get some covering to put on them.

Culbertson: Is there anything else that you would like to tell us that we haven’t asked you?

Cleveland: Gee, I can’t think of anything right now, but maybe Mrs.Culbertson will think of something later.