In the course of a few hours Monday evening, the COVID and illness situation changed to the point where top Medical Center Hospital officials pleaded with the community to use extreme caution when coming to the emergency room just to give nurses and doctors a breather.
Earlier on Monday, MCH CEO Russell Tippin said there were 88 COVID in house. That is up from 50 or 60 last Friday.
Tippin said later in the evening that the hospital has reached maximum capacity. Director of Public Relations Trevor Tankersley said there were close to 300 patients and 250 to 275 staff.
“We have had a situation where we have reached what we believe is max capacity. We have reached a point to where our hospital has not been in since COVID first started,” Tippin said.
He said the hospital is “sounding the alarm.” But he stressed that the hospital will not turn anyone away from the emergency room, but if they can wait to see their primary care doctor or go to an urgent care clinic that would be best. Tippin said the hospital needs the community to be mindful of what’s going on at MCH.
He urged people to wash their hands and wear a mask.
“… We are a census load that we have not seen in 20 years. We need to reach out to our community. We need your help to get through the next 24 to 48 hours,” Tippin said.
Chief Nursing Officer Christin Timmons said the ER is continuing to see patients and test people for COVID, but MCH is limited on the inpatient side.
Tippin said not only is COVID rising, but the hospital is seeing “regular” sick people with everything from gallbladders to babies and broken arms.
He added that this might be because outlying hospitals are filling up and MCH is seeing people from outlying areas.
The hospital is looking at bringing in tents because of the COVID case trajectory it is expecting. Timmons said they could see 95 COVID patients by the end of the week and into the weekend.
Tippin said the next 24 to 48 hours will be “critical” for MCH as they see the number of COVID and sick patients grow.
To bring in tents, Timmons said they will partner with their Regional Advisory Council (in MCH’s case it’s region J).
Timmons said she couldn’t say where the tents would come from specifically, but they will work with their emergency management coordinator and typically they are deployed between 12 and 24 hours.
She added that Gov. Greg Abbott’s legislative update says they cannot restrict anyone from having a visitor, but it is one in most circumstances.
