Hurricane Ian Disrupts Pain Medication Access for Patients

Hurricane Ian took a toll on Floridians who had to cope with temporary closures of pharmacies and other health care sites-almost as bad as during Hurricane Katrina when it devastated New Orleans in 2005.

NBC News reported stories of Florida residents losing access to pain medications after Hurricane Ian made landfall September 28, 2022. The hurricane swept through the Southeast, tearing off roofs, destroying the bridge to Sanibel Island, and unleashing a storm surge in Lee County, Florida, that was as high as 18 ft in some areas.1

One man interviewed by NBC was Roy Key, 87, of Fort Myers, Florida. Key is a veteran of the US Air Force who, after the storm ravaged his county, had trouble accessing pregabalin that he takes for nerve pain and morphine prescribed to him for pain from a broken hip and fractured femur. The injuries occurred when he fell earlier this summer. He also still has pain caused by injuries from his days in the Air Force.1

Because of the storm, the Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic near his Fort Myers residence was closed. His wife, Sara Key, told NBC that her husband was "rocking in pain" as she tried to access a provider who could send his prescriptions.

NBC also reported that of the 15 Walgreens pharmacies that closed September 29 in the Fort Myers areas, 14 had reopened by October 8. The network also reported that 19 CVS pharmacies closed September 28 but reopened them a few days later.

A VA doctor in Tennessee mailed Key one of his prescriptions, but Key still encountered issues obtaining the narcotic. Eventually, Key's Florida VA clinic filled his morphine prescription October 5, a week after the storm.1

Some Florida hospitals temporarily closed during the storm-with some reporting structural damage, and one hospital's roof was ripped away by the winds-before reopening September 30, according to NBC. Nine hospitals lost access to running water at some point during the storm or its aftermath.1

Fort Myers is in Lee County, where the greatest number of fatalities occurred from the hurricane, according to National Public Radio (NPR).2

According to NPR and other news sources, as of October 8, 2022, at least 119 people died from the hurricane, with most of those deaths attributed to drowning. The 18-ft storm surge was reported in Lee County, which includes Sanibel Island and 2 more islands that saw the greatest impact.

Most of the deaths have been attributed to drowning, but a few people died because of a lack of access to emergency medical services, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, NBC reported.

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