Though Hurricane Harvey broke the national rainfall record for a tropical storm, crisis management coordination between the state and Texas hospitals ensured care was minimally interrupted. The SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council now believes roughly 90 percent of facilities will return to full service by October, according to STAT News.
Roughly 20 out of Houston's 110 hospitals had to evacuate a total of 1,500 patients, but SETRAC CEO Darrell Pile believes the outcomes could have been much worse, considering the "paralyzing" nature of the storm. He noted, however, that mitigating Harvey's effects required an ingenuity that no other crisis has necessitated.
"[Harvey] challenged every plan we've written, every resource, every piece of inventory. I mean, we've run out of wheelchairs," Mr. Pile told The Washington Post. "I mean it just was unimaginable."
Though some hospitals were affected more seriously than others, Mr. Pile asserts that almost all Houston hospitals will be operating regularly by the end of September.
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