GALVESTON — University of Texas Medical Branch nurses, doctors and staff members on Tuesday marked the anniversary of the reopening of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department after Hurricane Ike by singing “Happy Birthday” to Jennifer Ramirez-Hernandez, the first baby born at John Sealy Hospital after the storm struck Galveston Sept. 13, 2008.
The obstetrics and gynecology department was the first to return after the hurricane forced the medical branch’s operations to a halt. In the past year, 6,065 babies have been born at the medical branch. Typically, 600 babies are born at the medical branch each month.
Staff members did whatever it took to get the medical branch running again, Dr. Gary Hankins, chairman of the department, said. The institution is better today than it was before the storm, Hankins said.
“It was the first time in a long time that all of us had to be the total doctor, the total nurse,” he said.
Jennifer, who lives with her family in Texas City, has learned to walk and talk. Her first word was “papa.”
On Tuesday, she celebrated her birthday by poking her tiny fingers into the baby-sized cake, adorned with a burnt orange Longhorn logo.
Speaking through translator Irma Rabago, Jennifer’s mother, Maria Hernandez, told the more than 100 people gathered for the celebration she was “so happy she had all her babies here.”
Hernandez, who went to San Antonio during the hurricane, said last year she was worried the hurricane would damage the medical branch so severely she couldn’t give birth there. Hernandez, who gave birth to her other two children at John Sealy Hospital, said she was relieved when medical branch employees called to assure her that even though most medical branch operations were down after the storm, the obstetrics and neonatal department was running.
State Rep. Craig Eiland, whose four children were born at the medical branch, cried as he talked about the medical branch’s recovery. Eiland said he will continue to do everything possible to help the institution, and he will not rest until the new Jennie Sealy replacement tower is built.
