Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital did not escape an unprecedented hurricane season unscathed and now hopes to mitigate future impacts.
The sprawling St. Petersburg campus sustained $1.51 million in damage during Hurricanes Helene and Milton. About 200 children and families remained at the nearly 100-year-old hospital throughout the storms.
K. Alicia Schulhof, CEO of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH), provided city council members with an operational update at their April 10 meeting. She announced that the expanding institution will invest $33.7 million to storm-harden critical facilities.
“Our steam line is vulnerable and delicate,” Schulhof said. “And when you think about the numbers I shared previously, about the challenges and the shortfall that we already have given our Medicaid funding, this is where your partnership and your help will be so critical.”
JHACH is the U.S. News & World Report’s top-ranked children’s hospital in Florida. Its primary service area includes 1.2 million kids.
The downtown hospital, nationally ranked in six specialties, is also a vital resource for other communities during storms. JHACH airlifted dozens of pediatric patients from Fort Myers to St. Petersburg during Hurricane Ian in October 2022. Many required neonatal intensive care.
The 259-bed main hospital at 501 6th Ave. S. suffered wind, roof and water intrusion damage during Helene and Milton. Melissa Macogay, vice president, previously told the Catalyst that its Central Energy Plant could fully power the hospital for eight days.
Underground piping from the facility at 461 8th Ave. S. was also damaged during the storms. Schulhof said Thursday that the resiliency project would “totally move our current steam line, which is down the street from our campus,” to a new 28,000-square-foot facility.
JHACH announced the $62 million expansion in November 2024. The state-of-the-art building, expected to open in July 2026, will accommodate complex surgical procedures and provide six flexible emergency rooms for pediatric patients with unique needs.
Schulhof said the new facility, abutting the existing emergency center, could also house the steam boilers. “This will significantly enhance our ability to reduce those steam line vulnerabilities that are currently in play.”
“We all are just anxious and hope that we will not have another hurricane until we get this project done.”
JHACH has also identified several other storm-hardening measures to complete over the next three to five years. Those include digging separate wells for fire protection, cooling towers and emergency water.
The facility’s helipad enables rapid evacuations. Hospital officials plan to strengthen its exterior doors and those to the emergency center and main entrance.
The project also includes installing flood barriers around the hospital, transformers at the energy plant and a storage facility. Tampa General Hospital made national headlines for blocking flooding with an AquaFence.
Installing septic tanks to “offset waste” during shutdowns will cost approximately $5 million. The city shuttered a sewage treatment plant during Helene for the first time in history and two of three during Milton.
Relocating steam generation to the main hospital is, at $12 million, by far the costliest expense. Funding remains a challenge.
Schulhof noted that over 60% of JHACH patients utilize Medicaid, the highest rate in Florida. The government-funded health insurance for low-income patients pays about 70 cents on the dollar.
“That calculus there really creates a situation where we have a shortfall,” Schulhof said. “And that is why we rely so much on supplemental funding and … philanthropic giving.”
City officials recently announced a new $160 million storm recovery initiative – Sunrise St. Pete. The money stems from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program.
Awardees can use the money to replace and rebuild affordable housing, strengthen infrastructure and support storm-affected small businesses. St. Petersburg must allocate $139 million to unmet storm recovery needs and $20.85 million to mitigation efforts.
“We were so excited to see the Sunrise St. Pete program,” Schulhof said. “We are very anxious and ready to be the first knocking on your door to complete that grant process to assist us with covering that $33 million price tag.”
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said Monday that she is unsure if the project would qualify. City administrators will present an action plan to the council for approval.
Gabbard hopes to see the “very limited” funding used similarly to pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act dollars. “For me, philosophically, we were given this money to address the greatest need of disaster recovery for our residents,” she said.
“I want to see us really take that to heart when we plan this program,” Gabbard added. “And that we address individual resident needs first – not only making sure we try to help people get back on their feet, get back in their homes, but also to rebuild better so they’re less vulnerable in the future.”
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
