Hospitals keep eye on storm, move some patients.
East Houston Regional Medical Center suspended all operations and evacuated its patients Friday morning as Hurricane Harvey barreled closer to the Texas coast.
Other hospitals across the Houston area kept a wary eye on the strengthening storm and began rolling out preliminary emergency measures and stockpiling food, water and medical supplies.
At the University of Texas Medical Branch hospitals, including those in Galveston and League City, nonessential employees were sent home at 3 p.m. and all outpatient clinics were closed. Elective surgeries were also postponed, and 76 patients were discharged early.
UTMB’s three main hospital locations across the region remained open and patients needing emergency care were being directed there, but officials said they would be continuing to monitor the deteriorating conditions and make adjustments as needed.
“A decision to evacuate
would be based on a threat that would put patient and staff lives in danger ,” UT MB president Dr. David Cal lender said in a statement.
Callender said he had confidence the hospital could withstand the impending storm. But, he added, “There is no structure that is completely safe in the face of a very severe hurricane.”
In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the Galveston medical facility, forcing patient evacuation and a closure that stretched for months. Since then, officials said more than $1 billion in improvements have been made, but the memory loomed large Friday.
Meanwhile, 51 patients at East Houston Medical Center were transferred to other facilities within the HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division network, some as far away as Conroe.
In addition, services at the Bayshore Medical Center 24-hour Emergency Center, also part of the HCA network, were suspended Friday.
Both measures were taken to “consolidate resources and for patient safety purposes,” the health care network announced in a bulletin.
Patients needing emergency care were being diverted to Bayshore Medical Center in Pasadena.
Even there and at its sister hospital, Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, it remained unknown what further emergency steps would be needed.
“We have to determine this hour by hour,” said Debra Burbridge, spokeswoman for HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division.
Texas Children’s Hospital announced Friday afternoon that it was closing all clinics and canceling outpatient procedures Saturday through Monday. The order affects facilities at the Texas Medical Center, The Woodlands and the West Campus.
The community maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics-gynecology clinics also will be closed through Monday, Texas Children’s said.
Other hospitals across the Houston area said they plan to operate as usual through the weekend but they were ready to quickly adjust plans.
At Memorial Hermann Health System, incident command centers have been established to keep an eye on staffing and supplies.
Systemwide, patients who could be discharged safely were being released.
Memorial Hermann outpatient rehabilitation centers will be closed over the weekend, a spokeswoman said. Also on Friday, all patients at Memorial Hermann Orthopedic & Spine Hospital in Bellaire were discharged or sent to the Texas Medical Center hospital,the spokeswoman said.
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