Water Shortages Hit Hospitals, Texans After Winter Storm
As cold weather continues, medical facilities across Texas struggle with reduced water pressure, as contaminated water issues impact the state.
NPR:
Hospitals In Austin Are Running Out Of Water, Forcing Some To Transfer Patients
Local hospitals are being affected by widespread water issues in the Austin area, following severe weather this week. St. David's South Austin Medical Center said it lost water pressure from the city Wednesday, creating a series of problems. "Water feeds the facility's boiler, so as a result, it is also losing heat," David Huffstutler, CEO of St. David's HealthCare, said in a statement. Huffstutler said the hospital is working with city officials to fix the situation. In the meantime, hospital and city officials are finding transportation to get patients "who are medically able to be discharged home safely." (Lopez, 2/18)
Texas Tribune:
“An Emergency On Top Of A Pandemic”: Texas Hospital Workers Scramble As Winter Storm Hampered Operations
Hospitals across Texas struggled through water outages and food supply disruption in the wake of this week’s historic and debilitating winter storm. Patient logjams, overflowing emergency rooms and hospital beds, exhausted workers, staffing shortages and power outages added to the challenging conditions, hospital officials said. (Brooks Harper, 2/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Texas Cities Under Boil-Water Orders
More than 14 million people in Texas are without safe drinking water, as the fallout of a severe winter storm exacts a historic toll. Cities including Austin, Houston and San Antonio are under boil-water notices until Monday. Some residents are bringing in shovelfuls of snow to flush their toilets. (Findell and Thomas, 2/19)
The New York Times:
Texas Water Crisis: Frozen Pipes, Cracked Wells And Offline Treatment Plants
Power began to flicker back on across much of Texas on Thursday, but millions across the state confronted another dire crisis: a shortage of drinkable water as pipes cracked, wells froze and water treatment plants were knocked offline. The problems were especially acute at hospitals. One, in Austin, was forced to move some of its most critically ill patients to another building when its faucets ran nearly dry. Another in Houston had to haul in water on trucks to flush toilets. (Healy, Fausset and Dobbins, 2/18)
The Texas Tribune:
Already Hit Hard By Pandemic, Black And Hispanic Communities Suffer The Blows Of An Unforgiving Winter Storm
Neighborhoods across the state — some lined with million dollar homes, others by more modest dwellings — went cold and dark for days as Texas struggled to keep the power on during a dangerous winter storm. But while the catastrophe wrought by unprecedented weather was shared by millions left shivering in their own homes, the suffering was not equally spread. (Ura and Garnham, 2/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Texas Home Care Workers Face Challenges To Provide Care During Winter Storm
When it comes to natural disasters, shutting down healthcare simply isn't an option for most providers. But Texas' recent winter weather and power outages posed particular challenges for home care providers as many roads were impassable and clients were trapped at home. In the greater Austin area, Deborah Garcia runs a small nonmedical home care agency, Texas Home Care Partners. Some of the company's caregivers have stayed at clients' homes since Monday, taking shifts with family members to care for clients. In other cases, families have taken over caregiving until the roads clear. "In cases where the client absolutely can't be alone and doesn't have family there, we have to stay," Garcia said. (Christ, 2/18)
Also —
The Hill:
1 Million Without Clean Drinking Water In Louisiana
Thousands are without power and roughly 1 million Louisiana residents are without clean drinking water after crippling winter storms struck the southern and central U.S. this week. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Thursday at a press conference that water issues were affecting residents across the state, while the power outages remained mostly confined to the Baton Rouge and North Shore areas. (Bowden, 2/18)
NPR:
'A Disaster Within A Disaster': Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Cases Are Surging In Texas
Texas is seeing a surge in carbon monoxide poisonings this week, as plunging temperatures and persistent power outages send residents searching for warmth increasingly from dangerous sources. A total of 450 carbon monoxide-related calls statewide have been made to the Texas Poison Center Network since Feb. 11, a Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson told NPR on Thursday night. She said some of those calls were made en route to an emergency room or urgent care center. (Treisman, 2/18)
Bloomberg:
Winter Storms Target Homeless In Texas And Oregon
On Sunday afternoon, people started lining up to get into Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center — a shelter of last resort for some 800 people — six hours before the facility opened. Temperatures plunged over the weekend in Texas, bringing snow, ice, and widespread power outages to several million households across the state. But the most vulnerable Texans were those who had no homes. In Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other cities, social workers and volunteers fanned out to search for unhoused people and usher them into emergency warming centers; when community shelters reached capacity, churches and nonprofits opened their doors to those seeking refuge. Not all found shelter: On Monday, a Houston man was found dead in a van after he declined to be taken to a warming center; another man was found dead on a highway median. (Capps and Bliss, 2/18)
