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PENSACOLA - For Dr. John Lanza, running a special needs shelter during Hurricane Ivan was a disaster within a disaster.
The food ran out. The oxygen tanks stopped working. The toilets wouldn't flush.
And the roof blew off.
"There were some challenges," said Lanza, who turned the gym at Pensacola Junior College into a makeshift shelter for 270 mostly frail and elderly patients.
So they've improvised.
"We had bucket brigades bring in water from the swimming pool to pour into the toilets and urinals," said Lanza, director of the Escambia County Health Department.
Lanza had to dash out in hurricane winds the night of the storm to raid the pantry of a nearby middle school because the contractor who was supposed to deliver food for the next day didn't show. Lanza still doesn't know what happened.
The volunteers and their families are camped out with the evacuees. The staff was supposed to sleep in a separate building but can't because that roof caved in.
There's no air conditioning. No phones. No public transit to take the patients home and no way for many of them to know if they even have a home left to go to.
So they've spent the past three days lying on cots packed so tightly on the basketball court that it's difficult to maneuver.
Some passed the time reading. A few watched miniature televisions or listened to music on headsets. Many slept on top of colorful, crocheted afghans. Some sat on lawn chairs next to their spouse's cot, so close their feet touch.
And more people are on the way. "Those people who need oxygen and didn't come here (before the storm) are now asking to come here," Lanza said. He's preparing for them, though he's not sure where he'll put them.
Lanza rebuilt the medical infrastructure after Hurricane Charley ripped through Charlotte County last month, making sure pharmacies opened up, checking with dialysis clinics.
He got more help Friday. Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings and state Health Secretary John Agwunobi visited the clinic and brought 48 health care workers with them.
The workers, all Department of Health employees, had to be flown by helicopter because so few roads into Pensacola are passable. "We actually were preparing for this before the storm," Agwunobi said. "We couldn't get them here Thursday because of the high winds."
The day after Ivan tore through, lunch was a single slice of cheese on a hamburger bun and a small bag of Cheetos.
"When they brought in the food, we said, "Well, we know we're not at the Hilton,"' said Naomi Cole, 73, who has stayed at the shelter with her husband, Earl, since Tuesday. The couple lives in Pensacola.
But the Coles didn't mind. They said the staff took excellent care of them and the other patients despite increasingly difficult obstacles. And the water has already come back on.
"Anytime you needed something, you raised your hand and they were there," said Earl Cole, 80, whose emphysema brought him to the shelter.
Jim Lance isn't complaining, either. Arthritis keeps him in a wheelchair, but he has enough battery power in it to zip around and make friends with the nurses.
"For something that just got thrown together for the disaster, they've had excellent care," said Lance, 68. There were few complaints, mostly from people comparing cots, Lance said. "Far be it for me to complain. It was very comfy."