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Hospital CEOs address ICU capacity fears amid COVID-19 fears
The four leaders in the Texas Medical Center want you to feel rest assured that quality medical care will be available if you need it.
HOUSTON - CEOs from four of the Houston's largest hospital systems join forces to reassure us that the Texas Medical Center still has plenty of room to treat patients.
Their ICU's have reached 100-percent capacity now, so they're rearranging their hospitals to make room and urging everyone to help stop the virus from spreading.
"We want to reassure the public that this pandemic is not eclipsing our capabilities. Our hospitals have the ICU capacity, staff, and supplies, to meet the healthcare needs of our community," says Dr. David Callender, President and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System.
A sense of panic from some, after ICU's hit 97-percent capacity earlier in the week.
"Let me put that in perspective, because I think just that number is being misinterpreted, and quite frankly, we're concerned there is a level of alarm in the community that is unwarranted right now. Because we do have the capacity to care for many more patients and have fluidity to manage. I pulled June 25, 2019, one year ago today - it was 95%. We are highly experienced at utilizing our sickest patients, and it's normal for us to have ICU capacities that we all run in the 80s and 90s, that's how all hospitals operate," explains Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital.
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Dr. Boom goes on to say that the difference now is 1 in 4 patients is being treated for COVID-19. Even with a continuing surge of coronavirus patients expected, the hospital systems say they are ready.
"We are seeing younger patients with a shorter length of stay, seeing lower mortality, and lower ICU utilization," states Dr. Boom.
Treatments have also come a long way and plans are now in place to turn regular beds into intensive care units, with all of the proper equipment, including ventilators.
"We are actively looking to almost double our critical care capacity over the next several weeks and increase capacity 25-50% over next 6-7 days, as we work to care for the community," says Dr. Doug Lawson, CEO of St. Luke's Health.
They're also making sure every hospital is fully staffed.
"That is the next part to begin bringing in nurses and clinicians from other parts of the country to help. Physical capacity is there, the reality is staffing to that volume and we're doing that on a day-to-day basis," explains Dr. Lawson.
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Texas Children's Hospital has fewer patients than usual right now, so they're able to treat adult patients as well.
"We have capacity! We have the ability to take care of all the Houstonians that need a critical care environment, get operated on, or acute care, whether pediatric or adult, there is not a scenario, in my opinion, that ICU with ventilators, PPE, etc, would eclipse our capability, I cannot imagine that, I just cannot," states Dr. Mark Wallace, President and CEO of Texas Children's Hospital.
The four leaders in the Texas Medical Center want you to feel rest assured that quality medical care will be available, if you need it.
"We're on a mission to take care of patients who need to be taken care of, and we're going to take good care of our employees and medical staff. That's our promise, that's our pledge, and that's what it has been for the Texas Medical Center for nearly 75 years," says Dr. Wallace.
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While they live up to their part, they ask us to play an important role, as well.
"The reality is, we all have to do a better job masking, hand hygiene, and socially distancing ourselves. The spread is increasing and it's concerning, but we're ready to take care of patients effectively and appropriately," says Dr. Lawson.
The last important message is they want you to know there is plenty of room at their hospital if you get sick with other problems. They urge you not to skip medical care because you're fearful they're full or that you'll contract the virus. They say all of their hospitals are safe.
Here's a closer look at the numbers of coronavirus cases: https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/