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 But Kathuria and some other doctors in Texas are saying they have
never seen a more harrowing week than this one.
Record-setting cold weather has cut water and grid energy supplies
to hospitals across a wide swath of Texas. Electricity and water
services were resuming, but many homes and some hospitals still did
not have either on Friday. Half the state's population was under a
"must-boil" order to ensure water is safe.
"We're overwhelmed, way more than we've been with COVID," said
Kathuria, who works in several Austin-area emergency rooms. "This
system failure has completely rocked us in our ERs - and in our own
homes."
Many hospital staffers have stayed in the medical facilities all
week - knowing there was no heat or water at home. At least
hospitals have generators for basic electricity. Some had water
hauled in to fill tanks or hired water tankers. Others had running
but not potable water.
Doctors in Austin, Houston and the Dallas area called the lack of
water their biggest problem. Dialysis machines do not work without
water, surgery equipment cannot be sterilized, and hands cannot be
washed.
Dr. Neil Gandhi, an emergency room physician and the regional
medical director for the ER departments at Houston Methodist's seven
hospitals in the area, said those facilities were at 90% operating
capacity by Friday afternoon. Earlier in the week, two were able to
take only emergency patients, Gandhi added.
"On top of the COVID pandemic, this has been a dual trauma event for
both our patients and our providers," Gandhi said.
[to top of second column] |
 Ambulances struggled to reach
people on roads that were not cleared because
Texas cities have few snow plows and not nearly
enough salt on hand. Doctors in stand-alone
emergency care locations who routinely call the
911 emergency number for ambulances to transfer
patients to hospitals had to wait more than nine
hours for any to arrive - if they were available
at all.
Gandhi said that in Houston this week there were
times when entire neighborhoods simply did not
have any emergency medical services.
Hospitals set up portable toilets. Inside,
patient's toilets were flushed by tossing in a
bucket of water. Less critical dialysis patients
delayed treatment, while others limited their
time on machines.
Rural hospitals across Texas were not only
trying to treat patients under tough conditions,
but also serving as de facto "warming centers"
for the healthy, said John Henderson, president
of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community
Hospitals.
Even with warmer weather forecast for next week
there could still be a sea of broken water pipes
and other damage.
"We worried that when the sun comes out and the
temperature goes up," Kathuria said, "that it's
not necessarily the end in sight."
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas;
Editing by Will Dunham and Donna Bryson)
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