Dialysis clinics in Texas recovering from winter storm, but water supplies remain limited
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Dialysis providers are recovering from power blackouts and winter storms that pummeled Texas last week, but limited access to clean water needed to perform treatments have forced disaster teams to find alternative suppliers.
“We have experience in the region from responding to major hurricanes and other natural disasters,” Bob Loeper, vice president for Operations Support and Business Continuity/Disaster Response for Fresenius Medical Care North America, told Healio Nephrology. “However, we ran into many obstacles that we have not encountered previously such as widespread low to no water pressure and rolling blackouts.”
On Feb. 20, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said 1,445 public water systems faced disruptions in service due to the weather, many of these leading to boil water notices.
The storm “was a real health crisis on top of all the other things going on right now,” Tiffany Jones, CEO of the Texas Kidney Foundation, said in an interview with news station CBS KENS 5 last week. “We never thought that weather could impact us this way,” she said.
Loeper said FMCNA was able to “mobilize resources, including water trucks, additional generators and other emergency supplies,” he told Healio Nephrology. “We activated our disaster response team ahead of the extreme weather ... While almost half of our Texas centers were initially impacted in some way from the storm, we are in a much better position at this point and have been able to get service up and running to almost all locations.
“Additionally, we are providing resources, including fuel and generators, to our employees so they can be ready to help treat our patients.”
Water systems across the state were disabled when they lost power at facilities to treat the water or pump treated water into distribution systems. Water main breaks and mechanical failures also occurred, along with frozen or broken water lines, the commission said.
Joe Turk, president of Home and Critical Care Therapies at FMCNA, said the company sent a number of NxStage System One portable dialysis machines and supplies to support local hospitals that lost water pressure. “Because the NxStage System One performs treatments with bagged dialysate, hospitals are able to continue life-sustaining dialysis when there is no access to water, which is critical for disaster preparedness and response,” Turk said. “In one case, our team overcame tremendous weather obstacles to emergently deliver equipment and supplies to Houston in order to treat dozens of patients."
In response to the storm, the American Kidney Fund has activated its Disaster Relief Program to provide emergency funds to help kidney patients affected by the winter storm.
“This is an extreme crisis for people with kidney failure in Texas,” LaVarne A. Burton, AKF president and CEO, said in a press release. “We are hearing from patients that they have been going without dialysis due to the severity of the storm and the power outages.
“Finding water is a huge issue for many. Patients whose homes are freezing are being forced to find alternative shelter. Patients who must adhere to the very strict renal diet have lost their foods because of power outages. Home hemodialysis patients who do not have an alternative power source or access to water are unable to perform their treatments.”
The AKF website provides emergency preparedness information for patients on dialysis at KidneyFund.org/disaster-prep.
References:
www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=254409276093167&ref=watch_permalink
www.kidneyfund.org/news/news-releases/akf-mobilizes-disaster-relief-program-to-support-dialysis-and-post-transplant-patients-in-texas-winter-storm-crisis.html
www.tceq.texas.gov/news/releases/tceq-supporting-local-water-officials
Perspective
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Douglas Johnson, MD
Healio Nephrology’s coverage of dialysis clinics facing the winter storms in Texas highlighted the enormous challenges that Dialysis Clinics Inc. and other providers faced to ensure patients received dialysis safely and consistently.
With rolling blackouts, widespread power outages and a limited supply or in some cases a complete lack of fresh water, the “health care heroes” we have relied on throughout the COVID-19 pandemic were faced with yet another crisis situation.
Once again, they rose to the occasion. I am inspired, not only by their tireless commitment to patients, but also by their resilience and grace.
Four Dialysis Clinics Inc. (DCI) clinics in the Shreveport, Louisiana area, lost all access to water, and three lost power. Our area operations director was relentless in searching for a water source and was eventually successful after contacting Adrian Perkins, the mayor of Shreveport, who then connected her with the Department of Homeland Security. She coordinated delivery of a water tank to the only DCI clinic that still had power.
DCI was fortunate to be the first dialysis clinic in the area to secure water and, with the help of our medical directors, our local teams worked to ensure that each of our patients safely received care.
Once operational, we shared our water supply with another dialysis provider and a rehabilitation center to ensure that their patients also received safe care.
DCI teams faced similar emergencies in Austin, Nacogdoches and San Antonio that required creativity, courage, passion and commitment. The one common theme across all impacted clinics was the DCI team’s relentless efforts to ensure all patients received their treatments. They fielded non-stop calls from patients, caregivers and other providers expressing fear and concern, and asking for help.
They arranged for transportation and prioritized those in distress and most in need of immediate dialysis treatment. With snow- and ice-covered roads, driving conditions were hazardous, making it difficult to secure transportation for many DCI patients and staff.
Through this and similar weather events and crisis situations, we have learned that no matter how much preparation is done in advance, there will always be unexpected challenges that arise. As dialysis providers responsible for life-sustaining care to high-risk and vulnerable patients, it is important for us to work together.
I am proud that DCI is a long-term community partner in many of the communities in which we served our patients during the winter storms in Louisiana and Texas. We are proud of our health care heroes including leadership, staff and physician partners. We are grateful to be part of many resilient, generous and supportive communities, and we say thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to continue to meet our mission and serve our patients even in the most challenging circumstances.
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