HOUSTON (AP) - An impromptu pet care area helped Park Plaza Hospital stay open during the height of Hurricane Rita.

Some doctors and other employees who staffed the hospital during the storm had to evacuate from their homes, and they brought family members and pets to work with them.

The 448-bed hospital set up a menagerie in a basement corridor of an adjoining medical-office building to house about 50 birds, dogs and cats, said Greg Drummond, an administrator at the hospital.

"It was a diversion for the kids," Drummond said. "Staffers took them down there every couple hours and they got to hang out with the animals."
 

The hospital had about 300 to 400 family members of employees from Friday night into Saturday. They were asked to bring their own bedding and food. Color-coded arm bands were used to limit access to certain areas. Staffers with radios controlled traffic in the hallways.

Drummond said the emergency room saw patients including people who needed dialysis or prescription drugs. Some critically ill patients had been flown Thursday night and Friday to hospitals in the Dallas area also owned by the same parent, Tenet Healthcare Corp., but about 200 patients remained.

The hospital expected to return to near-normal conditions on Monday, Drummond said.