JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A South Carolina man who was evacuated from his hospital in Myrtle Beach and transferred to Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville described the evacuation process as “impressive.”
“It was a pretty impressive spectacle, watching an entire hospital get evacuated,” Eric Ault said from inside his room at Memorial.
Ault is among the 16 people who have been transferred from Grand Strand Health in Myrtle Beach to either Memorial Hospital or Orange Park Medical Center; 13 are at OPMC and three are at Memorial. All three hospitals have the same parent company.
“I would obviously rather be there with my family, with my kids, with my house and my pets,” Ault said.
Ault’s ordeal began early Saturday morning, when he walked into the Grand Strand emergency room due to a gastrointestinal bleed. Doctors suspect the condition is a result of previous radiation treatment Ault had received for prostate cancer.
“Of course, at that point everybody knew the hurricane was coming also,” he said.
Ault was among the last patients to be evacuated. He was flown to Memorial Hospital Wednesday night.
“People in red shirts from one county, and a team of people in blue uniforms from a different county, and five different transports lined up outside,” Ault said of the evacuation process. “Get six or eight of them [patients] lined up, then evacuated, and then more vehicles would pull up, more patients would get lined up.”
Ault’s son remained in Myrtle Beach, along with his wife and daughter who are both nurses and may be needed in the hurricane’s aftermath.
“At least they’ll be holding my house down, and again, if something happens they’re all in the same place,” Ault said. “So that’s a good thing.”