Mom reunited with baby at Florida hospital after Hurricane Ian

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (WPEC) — Hurricane Ian knocked out power and water to the area around Ft. Myers last week and caused extensive damage.

A number of premature babies from that area were transferred to different hospitals.

A woman from Lee County had not seen her baby girl for eight days until she arrived Monday night at Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital in Port St. Lucie. She told WPEC she's relieved the baby girl got excellent care at a hospital a long way from home.

Little Amara Fagan was born in Ft. Myers on Sept. 15, about five weeks premature. Her mom Kali Hyland, a resident of Lehigh Acres, is delighted her baby girl is okay.

"To be able to hold her and spend time with her and to know she's coming home, it's the best feeling I could ever ask for," Hyland said.

The little girl was flown by helicopter last Thursday from Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida in Ft. Myers to Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital in Port St. Lucie after Hurricane Ian hit Ft. Myers, knocking out the hospital's water supply.

Once I knew I wasn't gonna be able to see her and the storm hit, I was afraid of when I was gonna be able to see her again. I kept thinking is she okay, is she all right?" Hyland said.

During the hurricane, the infant was in a neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital in Ft. Myers, and Hyland rode out the hurricane at home with her boyfriend and his family in Lehigh Acres.

Because the hospital had lost its water supply, the hospital called Hyland last Thursday night, saying the baby was being transferred to another hospital in Port St. Lucie.

"When they called me that night, they said they were transferring her and they told me she was going all the way across the coast to Port St. Lucie, I cried honestly. I couldn't believe she was going so far away and I wasn't gonna be able to see her," Hyland said.

Hyland doesn't have a car, so Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital got her an Uber ride all the way from her home in southwest Florida to Port St. Lucie, a distance of about 120 miles, and she got there Monday night to be reunited with her baby for the first time since the hurricane.

"I'm excited and just happy to have her, knowing that she's healthy and hoping she doesn't want adventure any more in her life," Hyland said.

Amara is one of eight premature babies that were transferred from the children's hospital in Ft. Myers to hospitals on the Treasure Coast.

Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital in Port St. Lucie got five of the premature babies, and three went to Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital in Stuart.

"When I see what the team here is doing to take care of these patients and families, and how these families have been made to feel safe and cared about, it just makes me so proud of our team here," said Lori Matich, Senior Director of Nursing, Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital.

Meanwhile, Hyland says she'll have quite a story to tell her daughter someday about the hurricane she went through as an infant.

She looks absolutely healthy and happy honestly. She looks like she hasn't even been through a hurricane. All I can think about is holding her," Hyland said.

Matich says all the premature babies will go home at some point soon, as long as they have a home with electricity and water.