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| Vol. 23, No. 11 |
| June 15, 2001 |
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Weathering the Storm By RONDA WENDLER Texas Medical Center News The worst flood in the history of the Texas Medical Center brought out some of the best characteristics in those charged with ensuring that patients received top-priority care during last weekend's unprecedented storm.
"Hollywood couldn't have done a better job of depicting the dedication and commitment our health care professionals have to their patients," said Dr. Richard E. Wainerdi president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest concentration of hospitals and other health facilities.
Tropical Storm Allison moved ashore Tuesday, June 5, and like an unwelcomed guest, didn't go away. After five consecutive days of depositing record amounts of rain on the Texas Medical Center campus, Allison finally meandered back out into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, June 10. In her wake, many TMC hospitals were left without power - no air conditioning, lights or phones, no kitchen appliances with which to prepare food, and most importantly, no power to run critical life-support systems.
But patient care was never compromised at any of the hospitals, thanks to the majestic efforts of health care workers who braved flooded streets, downed power lines, and other flood-related hazards to put their patients first.
Television and radio reporters relayed requests from hospital administrators for employees to report to work immediately if able, regardless of their assigned shifts. The requests were heard, and doctors, nurses, allied health, clerical and maintenance personnel came in droves.
"The Texas Medical Center institutions are gifted with stellar employees. They stand solid in their service to the public," Dr. Wainerdi said.
The trouble began late afternoon Friday, June 8. For several days, Allison had been delivering rain showers here and there, causing isolated pockets around town to flood. On Friday, she let loose in all her fury, unloading 11 to 13 inches of driving rain on the Texas Medical Center area aver the next 24 hours.
Neighboring Brays Bayou quickly overflowed its banks, while runoff and rainwater filled streets at unprecedented speeds.
"When you get that much rain over such a short period of time, you're going to have major flooding. That's the law of physics," said Dr. Philip Bedient, Rice University professor of environmental engineering, and designer of the Rice/Texas Medical center Flood Alert system.
The system, accessible on the Web at http://www.floodalert.org, combines radar, the Internet, and extensive knowledge of Brays Bayou, and has in the past provided several hours warning of flood conditions, allowing backup power to be secured, ambulances to be rerouted, and appointments to be rescheduled. But with a storm like Allison, even several hours warning may not be enough Dr. Bedient said.
"The rains came fast, and the storm moved slowly, even stalled. That's a dangerous combination," he said.
Throughout the Texas Medical'' Center, below-ground parking garages flooded, as did the extensive underground tunnel system that connects many of the hospitals in a subterranean network.
Basements which housed power supplies for many Texas Medical Center institutions quickly filled with water, knocking out transformers and other electrical equipment. All hospitals lost power and switched to emergency generators. Two lost their backup generators, which like their main power sources, were kept at basement level.
At Memorial Hermann Hospital, where the main and auxiliary power supplies were knocked out, doctors and nurses began transferring patients in need of full-service care to other hospitals within the Memorial Hermann network, as well as Ben Taub General Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital. Whirring LifeFlight helicopters could be heard constantly carrying patients to other hospitals. Ambulances lined up outside Memorial Hermann's emergency room as patients were carried on gurneys from the darkened hospital. Elevators were inoperable, so doctors and nurses worked heroically to carry patients down flights of stairs, using flashlights provided by local Boy Scouts. At 3 p.m. Saturday, Hermann and Ben Taub, the area's only Level 1 trauma centers, announced they were combining their emergency room forces.
"Why try to do alone what you can do better as a team?" said James Eastham, Memorial Hermann senior vice president and CEO.
Like Memorial Hermann, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital also lost backup power and began transferring intensive care patients on life support systems to other hospitals, including Texas Children's.
"Hospitals may engage in friendly rivalry, but when the going gets tough, we pull together," said Dr. David Pate, St. Luke's medical director.
Because elevators were out at St. Luke's, employees formed a human chain in the stairwell of the 23-story hospital, passing food and supplies to floors where needed. A former kidney transplant patient arrived with his wife to offer help.
"The level of caring is just phenomenal," said Dr. Pate.
St. Luke's also transferred about 50 patients to its Medical Towers building across from the hospital, where operating rooms used in day surgeries were converted to ICUs. Dr. Pate assured patients' families that this measure was strictly precautionary.
"Care has not been compromised in the least. We simply want our patients to be in the best possible place based on their needs," he said.
The Methodist Hospital; The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Diagnostic Hospital, Texas Children's, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, and Shriners Hospital for Children all continued to function on auxiliary power. Texas Children's was the first to be restored to full power by Reliant Energy on Saturday about 6 p.m.
Other hospitals regained power as they finished pumping water from their basements and declared themselves ready to receive outside power. By 8 p.m. Saturday, many had been restored to full or partial power. In the meantime, Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Texas Woman's University-Houston closed temporarily due to flooding and loss of power, while the University of Texas Dental Branch rescheduled its graduation ceremonies to take place across town.
The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, always striving to eliminate blood supply shortages, was forced to cancel 16 blood drives that would have netted 800 units of blood. Bill Teague, blood center president, issued a request through the media for "post-flood" donations to make up for the loss. Word of the appeal leaked to Dallas, and the Dallas blood bank sent 200 units of blood Saturday for use by Houstonians.
"This is Texas. We help each other. We're survivors," said Teague.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/06_15_01/page_01.html |