For 5 Days, Altus Emergency was the Only Healthcare Facility Open & Operational in Hardin County

Kevin Herrington, TAFEC Board member and President of Altus Emergency Centers gave a solid testimony at the Texas State Capitol on November 8th, 2017 about the importance of Freestanding Emergency Centers in Texas.  The following is a video clip from the Texas State Capitol, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Interim Charge Hearing followed by highlights from his testimony.

A decision was made to stay open and serve the community, because of this decision, lives were saved.

Kevin Herrington’s Testimony on Freestanding Emergency Centers During Hurricane Harvey.

Altus Emergency Centers President Speaks at the Texas State Senate About Harvey’s Impact Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

President of Altus Emergency Centers, Kevin Herrington, MBA, FACHE, spoke openly at the Texas Senate HHS Hearing making it clear that “we are fully capable of handling all types of emergencies.”

During Hurricane Harvey, Lumberton just North of Beaumont became an island.  Due to the decision of remaining open, prepared and operational, Altus Emergency Center Lumberton became the only healthcare facility in Hardin County to take 911 calls during five of the most crucially impacted days of Harvey.

We worked multiple days, 6 – 8 days straight with the supplies that we had on our hand which were for about 3 days of supplies. – KH.

Although requests were made on several occations for additonal supplies and were refused all times, “We were able to provide for ourselves the additional days of supplies through other sources.”  Today, the residents of Hardin county are grateful for the care Altus Emergency Centers delivered during Harvey.

Among the patients treated, there were life and death cases. 

The types of patients that we would see were critical patients, they were traumas, electrocutions, broken bones an oxygenated patient on a respirator. 49% of the patients were on compensated care.

During Kevin Herrington’s testimony, he stressed the importance of the lessons learned during Harvey.  The four main points that we should keep in mind for the future of Texas:

1.  We have proven that we can manage emergencies.  Altus Emergency Center Lumberton demonstrated that we are well capable of handling emergencies.

2.  Help us allow Medicaid in Freestanding Emergency Centers.  This will allow us to help save more lives during times of urgency.

3.  Help us with the code related to Texas Emergency Centers which is currently restrictive to allow for more scope of care to provide more assistance to the communities that we serve.  “For example,” expressed KH, “the only CT machine can only be used for emergency patients and not for the outpatient population.”

4.  This is a good model to follow.  If we are recognized by Medicare / Medicaid and our scope is flexible, this is a good resource for rural Texas. This will allow freestanding emergency centers to into rural communities to provide much needed high quality healthcare.

Read more about the Story of the Storm that Became One of the Most Destructive and Costliest Hurricanes in History

Thank you to the Altus Emergency Center staff, which put their own personal needs aside, and banded together to put the lives of our Texas communities first.  With all of your help we were able to keep our facilities in Baytown, Lake Jackson, Lumberton, and Waxahachie open before, during and after the storm.  Thank you Team Altus ER for always offering much needed medical attention to patients who otherwise would not have received any attention, we saved lives in the process and that is ultimately our mission.

Harvey Flooding from an Aerial Perspective.