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Following a mortal storm that swept through texas this week, widespread power outages and water problems affected millions of people in the state. Hospitals suffered as some had to restrict water use and transport patients to other facilities.
St. David’s HealthCare said in a statement to CBS News Thursday that its South Austin medical center had lost water pressure and was limiting water use.
The city of Austin is now under a boil water advisory due to a power outage at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, the largest water treatment facility in the city, and “below minimum” water pressure drops.
According to St. David’s HealthCare, the incident command team at South Austin Medical Center was distributing bottles and jugs of water to patients and employees for drinking and hand washing. The hospital was also losing heat because water was supplied to the facility’s boiler.
The Incident Command team was working with the city to find a solution and was working to find “a transportation solution to get medically fit patients back home safely.”
In addition to these measures, the hospital was working to obtain tankers and portable toilets, and was canceling all non-urgent procedures. “Through our national partner, HCA Healthcare, we are able to secure and procure the food, linens, medications and supplies needed to care for and serve our patients,” the statement said.
The hospital, which currently has just under 300 patients, has transported the most needy patients – around 5% of patients – to other hospitals, the statement said. St. David’s added that “because this is a statewide emergency that is also affecting other hospitals in the Austin area, no hospital currently has the capacity to ‘accept the transport of a large number of patients.
According to the Texas Tribune, Ascension Seton hospitals in Austin have also been affected. A spokesperson for the hospital said “extreme weather conditions have caused intermittent water problems at several Ascension Seton facilities.”
And the Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin has instructed patients not to shower and use hand sanitizer to clean their hands due to water pressure issues, the radio station reported. KUT. In a letter to patients obtained by the station, the hospital also said that the toilets could not be emptied and that the sheets were changed only as needed.
CBS News contacted these systems and other Texas hospitals in areas affected by the winter storm.
Austin is just a city grappling with the aftermath of the storm. As of Thursday morning, hundreds of thousands of people were still without electricity statewide, according to poweroutage.us, and authorities had ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it, reported the ‘Associated Press.
In the city of Arlington, two large hospitals – Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital and Medical City of Arlington – were suffering from water pressure issues, CBS DFW reported Wednesday.
Blake Kretz, president of the Texas Health Arlington Memorial, sent a statement to CBS DFW saying “Consistently cold and below freezing temperatures” were causing “significant water pressure problems throughout the city of Arlington” , and the hospital provided bottled water for patients and staff.
“Texas Health Arlington Memorial’s safety, security and emergency management teams are working diligently to keep vital hospital functions available to those in need,” the statement said.
“The hospital will work in tandem with the Arlington Fire Department for additional water resources,” he continued. The Arlington Fire Department dispatched a fire truck to provide water pressure to the Arlington Memorial, CBS DFW reported.
In a statement to CBS DFW on Wednesday, the Medical City of Arlington said it had also been affected by the city’s water pressure issues and had “several days of bottled water supply for our patients and our staff “. The hospital was working with the city and the fire department for an additional supply of water.
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