At least two hospitals in Austin, Texas, were left without water and heat on Tuesday night – by transporting and showering human waste in trash bags to patients and staff or even washing their hands Was forced to refuse.
The severe condition caused by widespread power wastage in the state amid historic winter storms forced evacuations at both St. David’s South Austin Medical Center and Dale Children’s Medical Center, according to local reports.
Ambulances were seen Tuesday night outside St. David’s to transport vulnerable patients after experiencing complete damage from water pressure and heat.
Administrators accepted in a statement Austin American Statesman A “number” of other hospitals in that area were facing similar issues.
“Because it is a state-wide emergency, which is also impacting other hospitals in the Austin area, no hospital has the capacity to accept transportation of large numbers of patients,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, patients and family members of Dell Children’s Medical Center were told not to take a shower nor wash their hands, and were instructed to use hand sanitizer after allegedly using the toilet. As per this facility, most evenings did not have toilet facilities. KUT Austin
.
In a letter received by the radio station, Dale Children announced that it had also lost heat, and was resorting to emergency measures.
“We expect the temperature in the building to remain high as temperatures drop. We have limited supplies of wool blankets.”
A similar situation arose Tuesday night in St. David’s, in which employees reported KVUU-TV They had received a notice with instructions to remove human waste from the toilet along with the garbage bags and dispose of it using biohazard bags.
Hours after reports came from both hospitals, the entire city of Austin was placed under notice of boiling water by its water utility.
In a statement, St. David said an incident command team was working with the city to find solutions to the issues that the facility is facing.
The hospital has started giving water bottles and jaggery to patients and staff, who were asked to remain at work after their shift is over to deal with the crisis, according to KUT.
St. David’s has also canceled all elective surgeries and canceled “non-accidental” medical procedures.
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