After the flood: surviving Hurricane Juan.

Abstract

Capital Health is the largest integrated academic health district in Atlantic Canada. It provides tertiary health services to Atlantic Canadians and to 40 per cent of Nova Scotia's population. Capital Health consists of nine facilities, one of which is the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. The QEII is the largest adult academic health centre in Atlantic Canada, occupying 10 buildings on two sites. It employs 8500 staff and has 1075 beds. The QEII was created in 1996 with the merger of the Victoria General (VG), Halifax Infirmary (HI), Abbie J. Lane Memorial, Camp Hill Veterans' Memorial, Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre and the Nova Scotia Cancer Centre. There are 33 operating rooms at the HI and VG sites; together about 29,000 operations are performed there each year. The two hospitals are located about five city blocks away from each other. This article discusses how the two facilities coped after the devastation of Hurricane Juan in September 2003.