From frostbite to blizzard babies: Tulane Medicine teams winter the storm

Amber Naresh, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Tulane University School of Medicine, went on shift at Lakeside Hospital Monday morning. She didn’t leave the hospital until Thursday night. 

Dr. Naresh served on Lakeside’s Code Grey lockdown team for Winter Storm Enzo. At LCMC Health facilities, the VA Hospital, and Oschner, teams of Tulane physicians, fellows, and residents worked long hours as a blanket of snow shut down nearly everything in southeast Louisiana. 

“People who were concerned that they might deliver early came in Monday before the storm, so we were very busy that day into the night,” said Dr. Naresh. 

“As soon as the snow began to fall, we didn’t have anybody coming in, at least to labor and delivery. After the storm ended, even before the roads were open, it got busy again.”

Just as they did for Hurricane Francine last year, Tulane teams helped keep area hospitals running as the New Orleans area dug out from nearly a foot of snow. From Tuesday morning to Thursday night, all elective procedures were postponed, and clinics were closed, but emergency services didn’t get a snow day. 

 “I texted with my husband and kids a lot,” said Dr. Naresh. “They were more interested in their own activities, they went sledding on the levee and built snowmen, not so interested in what I was doing.” 

Dr. Naresh and the team delivered 10 babies between Monday and Wednesday, though none of those newborns arrived while the snow was actively falling. At least at Lakeside, no new parents were inspired to name their babies after this once-in-a-lifetime winter storm. 

Having grown up in New Orleans, graduating from medical school at Tulane and working here for most of her career, Dr. Naresh never expected to work a “bayou blizzard.”

“The morning after the storm, the grounds crews immediately started shoveling and salting the walkways,” she said. “They were right on top of it. I was like, where’d you get the salt?”