Army medical task force to begin treating Houston COVID-19 patients this week

Army Task Force preparing to set up COVID-19 Ward in Houston

FOX 26's Ivory Hecker spoke with the U.S. Army Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force regarding a COVID-19 ward being set up in Houston.

HOUSTON - Army personnel met with hospital leaders at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston Tuesday, as they prepare to open an unused wing to treat more coronavirus COVID-19 patients.

The full 85-member Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force won’t be on the ground in Houston until Wednesday, said Maj. Katie Bessler, who is heading up the Houston task force from the Army’s medical command.

“We are going to treat COVID-19 patients that the hospital has asked us to come down and help out in that area,” said Bessler.

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UMMC gave a tour Tuesday of the unused wing of its hospital on Tidwell Road--soon to be occupied by military medical staff assisting in the fight against coronavirus COVID-19.

“We have a multi-disciplinary task force, so I have those 85 personnel coming in from 27 different locations, all coming together to be able to provide the support that Texas has asked for in those critical specialties of the provider staff, the nursing staff, those respiratory therapy techs,” said Bessler. “So those are all a part of our team.”

UMMC leaders say they’re planning to start the unit Thursday morning, beginning with 30 new beds for COVID-19 treatment, with the ability to go up to 55 beds.

“We haven’t finished surging,” said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee who joined the hospital tour. “We are the largest population center between Harris County and Houston. We’ve gotta get prepared for the worst. The physicians and scientists say that we’re not yet at the worst.”

The medical professionals from the Army Reserve have treated COVID-19 patients before, but it will be their first time working together as one of the newly formed task forces deployed by the Trump Administration to several COVID-19 hot spots across the nation.

“They have the experience,” said Bessler. “We have no doubts that they can go in there and be successful and take care of those patients.”

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The Texas Medical Center’s latest report Tuesday showed its hospitals are currently six percent into phase two of ICU capacity with a growth rate that they anticipate will not push them into phase three for another two or more weeks.

https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/tmc-key-takeaways-for-july-11-2020/