Area doctors and hospitals taking early storm precautions

HOUSTON, UNITED STATES: US Highway 59 is still impassable 10 June 2001 in Houston, Texas, due to rain from tropical storm Allison. Thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana were temporarily homeless after being forced to flee flooding caused by four days of torrential rains. The American Red Cross blamed at least seven deaths on the violent weather, the aftermath of tropical storm Allison. AFP PHOTO/James NIELSEN (Photo credit should read JAMES NIELSEN/AFP/Getty Images) less HOUSTON, UNITED STATES: US Highway 59 is still impassable 10 June 2001 in Houston, Texas, due to rain from tropical storm Allison. Thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana were temporarily homeless after ... more Photo: JAMES NIELSEN/AFP/Getty Images Photo: JAMES NIELSEN/AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Area doctors and hospitals taking early storm precautions 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The Houston-area medical community, caught by surprise and devastated 16 years ago by Tropical Storm Allison, was taking no chances Thursday as Harvey churned closer to the Texas coast.

Three UT Physicians walk-in clinics will be closed on Saturday morning as a precaution "for the safety of patients and the staff," said Andrew Casas, chief operating officer for the network of clinics. He said other locations are expected to be open.

The closed clinics are: UT Physicians Bayshore Family Practice, UT Physicians Bellaire, and UT Physicians Cinco Ranch.

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At Memorial Hermann Health System, patients who are stable enough for early discharge were being released Thursday to keep the number of patients down in advance of the storm, said Tom Flanagan, vice president of trauma and disaster preparedness for the hospital network.

Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital were also assessing patients on Thursday to see if any could go home early, officials there said.

Flanagan said Memorial Hermann facilities are being stocked with enough food, water, medical supplies and linens for 96 hours in case roads become impassable.

Hospital officials in the region said Thursday there were no plans at this time to cancel elective surgeries or other procedures scheduled for early next week, but that could change quickly.

Flanagan urged any patient with an appointment on Monday to call before leaving home.

Casas added that anyone with a prescription should also think ahead.

"We are urging patients if they do not have a seven-day supply of their prescription to call in to their doctor and get a refill right now," he said.

In addition he said his staff has already begun printing out lists of patients with scheduled appointments through Tuesday. Those paper lists will go home with multiple staff members so they can begin calling patients to cancel appointment if needed.

They are using print-outs rather than electronic lists in case power is lost and people cannot sign onto computers.

At Houston Methodist, its leaders are meeting several times a day as they monitor the weather but a spokeswoman said they feel confident they are ready after drills on hurricane preparedness.

The measures being taken are in part lessons learned from the toll in 2001 when the torrential rains of Allison flooded the Texas Medical Center causing billions of dollars of damage. Thousands of patients had to be evacuated, at times down dark stairwells in stifling heat as hospitals lost all power, including backup generators.Tens of thousands of laboratory animals died in the basement of the Baylor College of Medicine as the water rose.

Since then, generators and laboratory animals have been moved to higher floors. Casas said clinic refrigerators now have battery-powered backups to protect vulnerable medications, including vaccines against tetanus which can become crucial in a natural disaster.

"We lost a lot of vaccine in Allison," he said.

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Across the Medical Center, massive flood doors were installed after Allison that can be closed to seal off institutions if water levels rise to flood levels.