The number of positive coronavirus cases in Harris County outside the city of Houston totaled 961 cases the evening of April 8, which includes 491 cases in northwest Harris County. As the number of cases climbs, Sean Burnett, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for HCA Houston Healthcare, shared April 7 how the 350-bed HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball campus is responding to the new coronavirus disease.
HCA Houston Healthcare would not provide the number of beds at the Tomball hospital designated for patients believed to be positive for the coronavirus or the number of ventilators on hand. However, the hospital is isolating COVID-19 patients, Burnett said.
"HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball has well-established protocols in place to care for patients with infectious diseases, and we are following [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines related to COVID-19 cases, including isolating COVID-19 patients," Burnett said in a statement. "At this time our 13 Houston-area hospitals have the necessary bed capacity, staffing and equipment to provide care. As we look ahead, our hospitals continue to engage in detailed bed utilization planning in preparation for a possible surge in patients."
HCA hospitals have rescheduled procedures and converted beds into intensive care unit beds as necessary to free up beds for COVID-19 patients and are managing patient bed levels within the 13-hospital network in Houston, according to the statement.
HCA Houston ER 24/7 Magnolia—a freestanding emergency room in the city of Magnolia—is maintaining the same protocol of screening and treating patients that HCA hospitals have implemented. The staff at the Magnolia site are also supplied with proper personal protective equipment, according to the statement.
In addition to equipping staff with PPE, HCA Houston Healthcare has adapted pay and rolled out housing and laundering services to care for its health care workers during this time, according to the statement. HCA has implemented policies paying 100% of employees' base pay for their scheduled hours, should they be exposed to the coronavirus and placed in quarantine, as well as Colleague Pandemic Pay where HCA funds 70% of base pay for employees if their department is neither currently in service nor able to work elsewhere in the hospital system, according to the statement.
Health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients and patients under investigation—those believed to be positive for the coronavirus but awaiting test results—are also eligible to receive temporary housing to limit exposure to the virus for their loved ones, according to the statement, which includes staying at a designated hotel at HCA's expense. In addition, HCA rolled out a scrub laundering service in early April to help health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients avoid carrying the virus home on their clothing, according to the statement.
"HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball's emergency planning efforts started months ago, and we have the supplies and equipment we need at this time," Burnett said in the statement. "We are doing everything possible to secure products, as the worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment including masks, face shields and gowns is a reality that we are addressing with realistic, workable solutions."
