CovCare Spotlight: Houston Methodist Hospital

As the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic took hold of the United States back in March, CovCare worked closely with Houston Methodist Hospital to ensure healthcare professionals received disposable facemasks to stay protected as they battled the surging number of COVID-19 cases that has since quadrupled since Memorial Day.

Even with the title of “One of America’s Best Hospitals” under their belt thanks to a dedicated approach to providing outstanding attention to cardiovascular surgery, cancer, epilepsy treatment and organ transplantation, Houston Methodist Hospital can add another remarkable attribute to that list: Coronavirus specialist.

As the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic took hold of the United States back in March, CovCare worked closely with Houston Methodist to ensure healthcare professionals received disposable facemasks to stay protected as they battled the surging number of COVID-19 cases that has since quadrupled since Memorial Day. Now five months later after Houston Methodist took on the challenge of caring for those infected and coping with the hospitals capacity, they are once again battling the second wave of the Coronavirus that has crippled the state of Texas.

So far this week, Texas has reported more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases with a record-high 9,286 hospitalized across the state for COVID-19. Within the Houston region alone, cases have increased to 2,147 cases as the number of patients hospitalized with Coronavirus has quadrupled since Memorial Day.

Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist hospital network, has led his heroic healthcare professionals and staffs through both the initial news of the Coronavirus pandemic and is now advocating for increased mask wearing due to the second wave of COVID-19 that Houston Methodist is enduring in Texas.

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer recently spoke with Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist hospital network, to gain a better understanding about the challenges facing Houston Methodist and Texas due to Coronavirus and what they’ve learned from other hotspots, like New York City. As New York area hospitals can attest, each day was filled with an increases in the number of patients seeking care at overburdened hospitals, while the number of daily deaths in Texas has remained low. One of the biggest differences however is that state officials in Texas have not reimplemented lockdown measures that some experts believed helped reduce both public concerns and the spread of the Coronavirus.

“Well, let me be really clear. People should take this extraordinarily seriously. And what we need right now in Houston - and I think we've been seeing over the last number of days - is people to really change their behaviors dramatically,” said Dr. Boom.

“Clearly we cannot keep increasing like this week after week after week without having some, you know, real trouble. So we have to change what's going on at the base rate in the community in terms of the spread of the virus so that this does not become even more problematic.”

For Houston Methodist and Dr. Boom, the current problem is the rise of cases within young adults as Texas' spike in coronavirus cases is impacting a greater number of people under 50 than earlier in the pandemic. The numbers tell a bigger story: nearly 60% of COVID-19 related patients currently in the eight-hospital system are under the age of 50. Previously, about 1 in 5 people in intensive care unit beds were under 50. Now, he said it is almost 1 in 3. Whereas back in March the concern was on older citizens and the elderly, it seems in Texas at least that the figures have shifted with younger patients impacted by Coronavirus.

The easy solution for Dr. Boom and others at healthcare professionals and health officials has also doubled as a plea: wear a mask.

Whereas the pandemic has spread concerns, caused fear, and casted doubts ranging from the political climate or whether schools should re-open in the Fall, the voices of those on the ground floor at Houston Methodist should carry a lot of weight. They are truly the ones having to risk their own health to save others from COVID-19.

"People have been working for four months caring for people with COVID. We'll cross 3000 patients today that have come into our hospital during that time," Dr. Boom told ABC News.

"A bulk of that now is happening during the last three, four weeks. Even so, they're frustrated to be honest because they're watching sometimes in the community that people aren't doing the simple things they know they could do."

Sadly enough, the last three or four weeks of intense hospitalizations and COVID-19 infections throughout Texas has taken its toll across the state with Texas passing 100 Coronavirus deaths on Thursday alone.

Read More CovCare Spotlights:

Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx

University of South Alabama

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