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Hospitals, nursing homes prepare for storm
Published September 21, 2005
Hospital and nursing home administrators scrambled Tuesday to make preparations and find facilities to place their patients and residents while Hurricane Rita gained strength as it neared the Texas Gulf Coast.
Brazoria County officials called for a mandatory evacuation, starting at 6 a.m. today, for the county’s infirm and in-patient health care facilities, including hospitals, hospices and nursing homes. The hospitals will not serve as shelters during a storm, officials said.
County Judge John Willy asked Brazosport Memorial Hospital to keep its emergency room open as long as possible, but if Rita develops into a Category 4 storm the hospital will close early, said Paula Haenchen, a hospital spokeswoman. Weather permitting, the hospital’s emergency department will stay open until noon Friday, she said.
Angleton Danbury Medical Center administrators will meet at 6:45 a.m. today to decide how long they can keep their emergency department open, said Tonya Visor, hospital spokeswoman.
Sweeny Community Hospital planned to close its hospital when the mandatory evacuation order for residents in Zone A, the low-lying coastal area, begins at 6 p.m. today, said Rhonda Moran, hospital spokeswoman.
Brazosport Memorial Hospital worked to transfer about 10 patients to other hospitals Tuesday, Haenchen said. Before transferring patients, however, doctors analyzed patients’ conditions to determine if they could be discharged, she said.
“They are not going to any one facility,” Haenchen said, referring to the 10 patients. “It depends on the nature of the patients needs.”
In cases where there are special needs, staff members will go with the patients, she said.
Sweeny Community Hospital discharged one patient Tuesday, Moran said. Outpatient and elective surgeries at the hospital were canceled Tuesday, she said.
All of the residents staying at the hospital’s assisted-living facility, The Fountains, have made arrangements to evacuate from the area with family members, Moran said.
Angleton Danbury Medical Center worked to transfer about five patients to other hospitals with openings Tuesday, Visor said.
Nursing home administrators also were busy making arrangements to find openings for their residents, which will be transferred by charter bus or ambulance, depending on their conditions.
Plantation Health Care in Lake Jackson, Country Village Care in Angleton and Village on the Creek Health Care Center in Clute, all owned by the Grether family, planned to evacuate its residents to a church in the Bryan-College Station area, said Amy Stewart, an administrator with Plantation Health Care.
“We have to plan very early when we care for 325 residents in this area,” Stewart said.
The others are evacuating with family members, Stewart said.
Patients with special needs will stay at Sheridan nursing homes in Bryan and College Station, she said.
If possible, family members of nursing home residents who can care for their relatives during an evacuation should do so, Stewart said.
Lake Jackson Healthcare Center has made arrangements to transfer its residents to sister facilities near Waco, said Administrator Don Sowell Jr.
“We want to make sure we are communicating before we evacuate, during the storm and after,” Sowell said. “That way all the residents’ family members will know exactly where they are at. And we will do that on a daily basis.”
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