Sycamore Shoals Hospital will resume inpatient operations Wednesday

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — One of the Tri-Cities hospitals that was evacuated during the floods caused by Hurricane Helene will accept inpatients again on Wednesday.

Ballad Health announced in a media advisory on Tuesday that Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton will resume inpatient operations on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

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The hospital will start accepting inpatients on Wednesday, and surgical procedures will begin once utilities in Carter County stabilize.

Thirty-nine inpatients were evacuated and transferred to other Ballad hospitals on Friday, Sept. 27 as historic flooding struck the region.

Sycamore Shoals Hospital suspended operations, but its emergency department remained open for local, incoming patients.

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Greeneville Community Hospital also evacuated and transferred its patients to the Holston Valley Medical Center on Saturday due to water issues in the town linked to flooding.

Services remain suspended at Greeneville Community Hospital, with the exception of the emergency department and emergency obstetric services for those in active labor or in an emergent situation.

A total of 33 patients were also evacuated from the Laughlin Healthcare Center in Greeneville to Wexford House in Kingsport.

Ballad has resumed elective procedures where possible across its system.

Unicoi County Hospital was the site of a rooftop rescue on Friday as patients and hospital personnel were trapped and surrounded by floodwaters. Ballad Health announced later on Friday that more than 50 people stranded had been rescued, but the hospital system’s CEO said the hospital was likely not salvageable.

Ballad Health stated on Tuesday that it had opened a medical response tent in Erwin in the Unicoi County High School auditorium parking lot. The medical tent provides 24/7 first aid, triage for minor illnesses and injuries and stabilization for a variety of ailments and conditions.

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