Hurricane Beryl tore through Texas on July 8, 2024, causing widespread damage and leaving millions of people without power. This is the second article in a 4-part series highlighting the relentless efforts of St. Luke’s Health staff to ensure continuity of care across our hospitals.

Houston is no stranger to hurricanes. Neither is Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center. In anticipation of the storm, around a hundred staff spent the night to care for about 500 patients and ensure there would be enough personnel for the Monday morning shift.

Beryl kicked up high winds and rain from early morning until late afternoon causing only minimal damage at the Baylor St. Luke’s main campus and its nearby McNair campus.

The main campus never lost power. But much of the rest of the city did, leaving scores of patients and many medical facilities such as urgent care clinics, standalone emergency rooms, dialysis centers, and nursing homes without power to address urgent medical needs. 

That night and for the next four days, a surge of patients presented to the Baylor St. Luke’s emergency department.

“By Tuesday, our ERs saw record volumes, almost doubling our usual numbers,” said Brad Lembcke, MD, president of Baylor St. Luke’s. Kidney patients who missed their dialysis were among the first to arrive. Those who lost power for home oxygen or rechargeable batteries for left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) also showed up. Some people simply sat in the emergency room next to a power outlet to charge batteries for critical devices.

“Everyone pitched in to help. Staff stayed over, sleeping in between shifts. Physical therapy passed food trays. The administrative team helped strip beds and emptied trash to help turn beds. The ER team called in extra help including our physician team members. It was a great team effort,” Lembcke said.

With the widespread power outage shuttering many gas stations, the hospital brought in a fuel tanker for staff to top off at no charge. 

Baylor St. Luke’s, including its McNair campus, is the largest hospital in the St. Luke’s Health system and accepted patients transferred from other hospitals due to a lack of power.

“We have an integrated transfer center that coordinated patient flow across our entire market. We were very fortunate to have those infrastructures in place to be able to operationalize so quickly,” Lembcke said.

Approximately 45 patients could not be discharged because of widespread power outages. “How do you discharge someone who's elderly or just recovering from an illness to an un-air-conditioned house?,” said Lembcke.   

Thanks to community members whom Lembcke described as “salt of the earth people,” they found a solution. “Families stuck together, neighbors stuck together. People with generators stepped up and said ‘come stay with me a while.”

Lembcke’s praise for Baylor St. Luke’s staff is unending. 

“You hear so many stories about people coming together as a community, understanding that this is our job, it's our duty. This is our mission - to be here and to take care of the community. I am incredibly proud. I am  just so grateful for being associated with this organization.”