Thank You, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine community

Dear Colleagues,

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, we are relieved and thankful that our colleagues at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital weathered the storm. We are also appreciative of the updates that President Jonathan Ellen so selflessly took the time to share.

Preparing for a storm projected to be one of the most catastrophic in history required an extraordinary amount of work, meticulous planning, constant communications and coordination to keep the hospital operational and safe for the young patients and their parents. We are proud of the dedicated nurses, physicians and other staff members who took care of them, at times with personal sacrifice. We appreciate the hundreds of employees who stayed at the hospital overnight, those who came in to relieve them and those who worked extra shifts. There is no doubt that this bonding made you even stronger. We honor your courage, compassion and commitment to our patients, the community and each other.

We also appreciate the mobilization of the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response, or CEPAR, and the many employees who stood up, offering to be mobilized and support our team at Johns Hopkins All Children's.

We are confident that Johns Hopkins All Children's thoughtful emergency preparedness and exceptional leadership will make a difference in how quickly the hospital will transition back to normal and restore full operations.

Our thoughts are with our colleagues who must now turn their attention to the effects of the storm on their personal lives—be it dealing with homes that were damaged, family members and pets who were separated, or the disruption of power outages and school closings. Our thoughts are also with all of our Johns Hopkins Medicine colleagues supporting loved ones who are recovering from the devastation of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and fires across the country.

To those who donated money, clothes and food, or who volunteered to be deployed to assist with an emergency disaster, we thank you again for rallying to the mission to assist those in need.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President, Johns Hopkins Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine