Methodist Reopens Buildings, Resumes Services

As of July 16, The Methodist Hospital reopened all of its inpatient buildings, resuming patient services that were available before Tropical Storm Allison dumped 40 feet of water into the hospital's basements.

Gradually over the five weeks following the storm, the hospital resumed normal services, including emergency care, surgeries, intensive care, radiology, and transplants, among others. On July 16, the day Methodist reopened all its inpatient buildings, there were almost 350 patients in the hospital. Methodist expects patient volume to soon increase to 600, and then reach at least 800 in the next six months.

The Methodist Hospital estimates losses due to the storm to reach at least $350 million, including loss of business revenue. The two basement levels, encompassing 300,000 square feet, suffered the worst damage, including MRIs, kitchen facilities, central supply and pharmacy. Methodist, like many Texas Medical Center institutions, has requested a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to supplement damage not covered by insurance.

Methodist employees and affiliated physicians have worked tirelessly over the past five weeks to restore services to the community as quickly as possible. Those not working in the hospital were sent to other facilities to help with their increased patient volume. On average, 400 employees were sent to 14 area hospitals, including Harris-Ben Taub, Harris-LBJ, and Woman's Hospital of Texas. Employees recently returned to Methodist as preparations to fully open were made.

During the recovery period, Methodist had worked out temporary agreements with Texas Children's Hospital and the Houston VA Medical Center that allowed Methodist to perform surgeries at those facilities. Methodist patients were treated by Methodist physicians, nurses and support personnel.

The complete rebuilding of Methodist is anticipated to take as long as six months, with current emphasis on temporarily relocating displaced services. An aggressive three-phase recovery and rebuilding plan has been developed and might take another year to complete. As the rebuilding occurs, all efforts will be made to move patient services out of the basements to prevent another natural disaster from disrupting patient care.

"I am extremely appreciative of the dedication, loyalty and teamwork the Methodist staff and physicians have shown during the crisis, recovery and rebuilding phase," said Peter Butler, president and CEO of Methodist Health Care System. "Now we can resume the services our community needs."

The Methodist Hospital was recently ranked among the country's top centers for urology; ear, nose and throat; kidney disease; neurology and neurosurgery; and ophthalmology in U.S. News & World Report's annual guide to "America's Best Hospitals."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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