Media Highlights Freestanding ER's Essential Role During COVID-19
AUGUST 2021 — Freestanding Emergency Centers (FECs) across the nation have stepped up to serve a critical role throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. While FECs have helped treat both Covid-positive and non-Covid emergency patients and have reduced burdens on many hospital systems, facilities are facing additional challenges amid the most recent Covid-19 wave. The following recent media reports highlight some of these challenges as well as the important role FECs play in the health care industry:
San Antonio, Texas television station KENS-5 spoke with the head of a major hospital's emergency department about how the recent surge in COVID patients in South Texas is affecting the hospital’s ability to admit patients, while reporting on how Freestanding ERs in the surrounding areas are filling the gap in patient care.
“We’ve had first responders and EMS reach out to us to potentially drop off patients that are not as critical,” said Dr. Gerardo Ortiz, Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director of the Lonestar 24 Hour ER in New Braunfels.
"Typically, if you have a patient in a freestanding ER that stays over 24 hours you have to report that to the state," Dr. Ortiz said. "We've had ICU patients that have stayed over 60 hours with us because you call San Antonio and Austin and they're number 80-something on the list for an ICU bed. We've had COVID patients with us that have been on oxygen for 20 hours”
East Texas television station KETK reported on how a Longview Freestanding ER is having to take care of not only emergency care patients but ICU level patients, without staffing or funding support from the state of Texas — unlike their hospital counterparts. The Longview FEC also shared how they are relying on some of their ICU-trained nurses to do extra work and teach skills to their emergency room nurses to meet the demand of the current COVID-19 wave.
The patients who can’t get into hospitals are going to free-standing ER’s, leaving staff to care for a level of patients they never have before. Other medical facilities like free-standing emergency rooms aren’t approved to receive help from the state right now but are also experiencing a staff shortage.
“We’re having to take care of not only emergency care patients but also ICU level care patients,” said Jeffrey Beers, a physician at Hospitality Health ER.
The Houston Chronicle reports hospital capacity issues are affecting smaller hospitals and Freestanding ERs when it comes to transferring patients out to receive a more critical and/or long-term level of care. One Houston area Freestanding ER explained how their facility has had to hold patients who need a hospital bed for days. The Chronicle also reports on how the transfer problem extends beyond COVID-19.
For small facilities, what once was a routine transport to local hospitals has become a frantic process of cold calling and cajoling health care providers in hopes of securing an open bed. In the meantime, patients who must receive intensive care languish in places that are unable to provide it.
By Thursday afternoon, 543 patients in the 25-county hospital region anchored by Houston were waiting for staffed hospital beds, according to the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council; 62 more waited to be admitted to an ICU.
More recent COVID-19 headlines from across Texas:
Austin, Texas: Local ER staff requesting emergency COVID funding from state to address staffing shortage
Houston, Texas: COVID patients overflowing into free-standing ERs as local hospitals are stretched thin
San Antonio, Texas: Neighboring counties look to San Antonio for care as delta surge squeezes hospital capacity
Lubbock, Texas: Star ER another option for people to go to for COVID-19
Corpus Christi, Texas: "Its not enough"; local nurses call on the state for more medical personnel
Corpus Christi, Texas: 'We’re tired, we’re exhausted, we’re overwhelmed': Local doctors look to the state for staffing help
Corpus Christi, Texas: Corpus Christi region ICU beds full; COVID-19 cases in young population increasing
Tyler, Texas: Freestanding ERs holding COVID patients for days due to lack of hospital beds
Longview, Texas: East Texas doctor says healthcare system is being overwhelmed
NAFEC Members work through challenges as winter storm, COVID-19 impact Coastal Bend
February 23, 2021 - CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It's a fact that when a crisis hits, people here tend to respond in some pretty remarkable ways. First responders and medical personnel are at the top of the list. One local group who, since the pandemic and through our freeze crisis last week, has been giving 110-percent to help their neighbors. They are on the frontline of healthcare -- the TLC Clinic on Staples Street.
In the last year their workload has quadrupled. "I stopped tracking hours," said Dr. Richard Kretschmann. "We all put in the extra hours and the extra effort." Dr. Kretschmann, Medical Director for Complete Care, can't even keep track. "I couldn't even come up with a number off the top of my head," Kretschmann said. There is one sure thing the doctor knows --"We take care of each other," Kretschmann said. "We take care of the community."
In fact, these folks are like a family, and it's because of that they were able to get through some of the toughest times in the past year. "What made it difficult is we went from seeing numbers of 20 and 30 a day to 150 a day," Emergency Physician Dr. Brian Rich said. "So what the staff had to do to overcome that and to be able to see that number of patients per day was extraordinary.”
While this story focuses on this one group of people, the efforts here tell a much bigger story about the true spirit of caring when times get tough.
"People were coming in, slipping and falling on ice, you know, just everything you could think of," said Ann Marie Mellows of TLC Complete Care. "Still needing COVID tests, and they were continuing to see patients and continuing to show up. Even with the temperatures, even without power. We didn't have water." Bellows said they have survived many challenges in the past, but last week's freeze was certainly the biggest.
"We had staff that just couldn't get out of their house," Bellows said. "They couldn't make it, and so we had staff members that were here, had worked a 12-hour shift, and they just stayed. They stayed and covered the next shift for the next girl, the next guy, the next doctor, the next nurse."
"Not one complaint," said Trish Brummett, director of nursing. "Staff stayed here, you know. They used the beds here to sleep. They brought their food in; but they dedicate their time away from their families to be here to help other families."
Borrowing from the old adage, the folks at the TLC Clinic said "the needs of the many truly outweigh the needs of the few." Especially during the most difficult of times, in the true spirit of the Coastal Bend.
Source: https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/tlc-complete-care-staff-work-through-challenges-as-winter-storm-covid-19-impact-coastal-bend/503-78beed0a-2ffa-4806-a68b-a9478c39b2b0
FECs Step Up To Assist As Weather Cripples State Infrastructure
February 18, 2021 - AUSTIN, Texas - As severe weather cripples Texas’ infrastructure, many medical facilities have been left without power, water, phone, and internet service. Many healthcare workers and patients ready for discharge have been unable to get home. Some healthcare professionals have been unable to make it to work, forcing their colleagues to work days on end.
On Wednesday, four St. David’s healthcare facilities, St. David’s Medical Center, South Austin Medical Center, North Austin Medical Center, and Heart Hospital were under Austin’s boil water notice.
"We are working with our supply chain to provide water for our patients, staff, and hospital operations. We began supplementing our onsite water inventory last week, and supplies are continuing to arrive." read a statement from a hospital spokesperson.
St. David’s Medical Center lost water, and the Heart Hospital had low water pressure Wednesday. Tuesday evening, the South Austin Medical Center lost water, and consequently heat. They transported 30 patients to other hospitals and brought in water trucks to aid their heating system.
A statement from a Baylor, Scott & White spokesperson Wednesday said the healthcare system had been experiencing water outages "over the past few days." Their Emergency Center in Cedar Park closed due to a "winter weather-related water leak." Patients were transferred to other hospitals.
Dr. Luke Padwick, founder and CEO of Austin Emergency Center, a group of six freestanding emergency rooms, told FOX 7 Austin all six facilities have lost power. "Everything you can imagine is, has gone down. But we have stayed open," he said. "one facility remained without power, and dependent on a generator." Padwick said some of his facilities have lost other critical resources such as internet, phone service, and most importantly, water.
"As a healthcare facility the basics of just flushing toilets is an issue," explained Kevin Herrington president of the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers. "We are a healthcare facility so cleanliness is the most important for infection control so the basics of washing your hands becomes a challenge," he explained.
The six freestanding emergency rooms have not only stayed open through the extreme weather, but have started accepting EMS drop-offs, something Padwick says freestanding emergency rooms do not do in Travis County, and seldom do in the state.
"[The emergency room is] just taking that load of the sort of the, maybe moderate acuity patients that would be seen in the hospital ER’s and sent home. We’ve got quite a few of those from EMS that would have gone to the hospitals," he explained.
Freestanding emergency rooms are not similar to say, Urgent Care. They are not affiliated with a hospital but provide a very similar level of care. They do not perform surgery. Like all emergency rooms, they are designed to transfer patients in need of specialized care.
Dr. Natasha Kathura says that has been extremely challenging this week. "We’re having to increase our capacity to hold patients longer than we ever want to hold patients, delaying surgeries. Ambulance transfers are taking over eight hours for some 9-1-1 calls so things have been very difficult for us."
Source: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/hospitals-struggle-as-weather-cripples-states-infrastructure