Ohio Hospitals Stand Strong as Winter Storm Tests Statewide Emergency Response

As Winter Storm Fern swept across Ohio, hospitals and health care workers across the state mobilized to ensure patients continued to receive lifesaving care despite hazardous conditions.

While travel was restricted and snow blanketed communities, caregivers reported to work, emergency departments remained open and hospitals activated weather emergency plans to protect patients and staff. From snowplow escorts guiding ambulances to nurses navigating dangerous roads before dawn, Ohio hospitals demonstrated resilience, teamwork and unwavering commitment during the unprecedented public health emergency.

Highlights from across the state include:

• Southwest Ohio: Dayton Daily News reported that hospitals like Premier Health, Kettering Health, Mercy Health and Dayton Children’s kept emergency rooms open throughout the storm, with some nonessential services rescheduled to prioritize urgent patient care.
• Greater Cincinnati: WLWT captured video of a snowplow escorting an ambulance to Cincinnati Children’s through treacherous roads, underscoring the coordination between local agencies and hospitals to ensure patients reached care safely.
• Central Ohio: NBC 4 Columbus highlighted how OhioHealth and Mount Carmel prioritized patients during the storm, adjusting operations and staffing plans to maintain critical services during the weather emergency. WOSU 89.7 reported that Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center provided a place to stay at the hospital for staff members to avoid commuting, which more than 300 staff members used.
• Frontline caregivers: WSYX ABC 6 shared stories of essential workers braving worsening conditions, including a nurse at OSUWMC who described the determination of staff to ensure patients were never left without care.

OHA thanks the thousands of caregivers who went above and beyond to keep Ohioans safe when it mattered most.