Hospital evacuees from Texas arrive in Oklahoma City

As part of preparations for Hurricane Rita, more than 100 patients from hospitals in Texas are in Oklahoma City. <br/><br/>The Oklahoma Air National Guard loaded up three big cargo planes with patients

Friday, September 23rd 2005, 6:22 am

By: News On 6

As part of preparations for Hurricane Rita, more than 100 patients from hospitals in Texas are in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma Air National Guard loaded up three big cargo planes with patients from hospitals in Beaumont and transported them to Oklahoma City. Workers say it's hard to prepare for an operation like this.

Richard Smith with the VA Medical Center: "There's no planning for it. Because the plane is going to arrive at 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 8 o'clock, so you can't be prepared for it that way. You just come out here, you know what your job is and you get in line to do your job. You know the patients are going to arrive. You treat them with respect, move them into the ambulance and move them downtown for care."

All the patients will be taken to one of 10 Oklahoma City area hospitals.