Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
For Houston's Hospitals, Returning To Business As Usual May Take Weeks
Stat: Houston Hospitals May Not Be Back To Normal For A Month
Amid the evacuation of approximately 1,500 patients from Houston-area hospitals, officials are commending the emergency response by health providers — while also cautioning that it may be weeks before the facilities are back to business as usual. The SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council — which has overseen catastrophic medical operations since Hurricane Harvey as part of Houston’s emergency command center — estimates that nearly two dozen hospitals have evacuated patients by ambulance and airplane over the course of the past week. (Blau, 8/30)
The Washington Post: Some Hospitals Evacuated, But Houston’s Medical World Mostly Withstands Harvey
The first ambulances finally arrived at Ben Taub Hospital, in the heart of Houston’s vast Texas Medical Center, to remove five patients clinging to life on ventilators. The county hospital had initially planned to transfer all of its 350 patients. As the remnants of Hurricane Harvey continued to unleash epic rains, a foot of water was rising in the hospital’s basement from a burst pipe and wet seeping in from the city’s inundated streets. The kitchen was knocked out, as well as the pharmacy and the area where supplies such as linens and needles are stored. (Goldstein and McGinley, 8/30)
NPR: After Harvey, Most Houston Hospitals Up And Running
In southeastern Texas, about two dozen hospitals remained closed as of midafternoon Wednesday, and several Houston hospitals remain under threat of flooding from nearby reservoirs. But things are looking up. Some hospitals that had been evacuated have reopened, and others are restoring services they had temporarily suspended. Many never closed at all. (Hsu and Sullivan, 8/30)
Houston Chronicle: Bayshore Medical Center Reopens
Bayshore Medical Center reopened on Wednesday after suspending services and evacuating patients on Sunday, hospital officials said. The 364-bed facility in Pasadena had taken the preemptive measure due to rising waters and patients were evacuated to sister facilities within the HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division. While the deadly flooding that followed Tropical Storm Harvey continued to plague other parts of the Houston area, the immediate vicinity around Bayshore had cleared. (8/30)
