NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — A medical facility in New Braunfels is hoping its work during the pandemic will help slow the spread of coronavirus and reduce the strain on area hospitals.
Out of 1,017 active novel coronavirus cases in Comal County, 76 people are currently hospitalized. Local hospitals are caring for 46 of those patients. Facilities in Comal County report 19 coronavirus patients in intensive care and 12 on ventilators to assist them in breathing.
Dr. Nwando Okafor from Riverside ER in New Braunfels says freestanding emergency rooms are also taking care of patients, playing their own role in the pandemic while helping a stressed-out local hospital system.
“When I think about our role, I think about four main factors,” Okafor said. “One of them is our testing capability. The second is utilization of hospital resources. The third one is personnel, and the fourth is helping to stop the spread.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Comal County said: “Because COVID-19 is putting such pressure on our local health care system, it’s been wonderful to see people working together to help slow the spread of this disease. It requires all of us – every person, family, business and organization – looking out for each other to help protect our community and keep each other safe and healthy.”
“A lot of us now are testing over 100 patients a day,” Okafor said. “When you think about having over 200 freestanding emergency departments in the state of Texas, that's over 200,000 patients being tested on a monthly basis here in Texas.”
Okafor says Riverside ER is able to treat many COVID-19 symptoms and can even keep a patient in observation for up to 23 hours, if necessary.
“We've had a lot of patients that we've actually turned around, had them feeling better, and we're able to discharge them home and thereby stopping them from having to be admitted to the hospital and taking up some of those resources,” she added.
During the pandemic, freestanding ERs are able to accept Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Riverside ER staff can answer insurance, care cost and health questions over the phone or online.
Phone:
830-468-5600
Email:
info@riversideer.com
Location:
1860 S. Seguin Ave., Suite 400
New Braunfels, TX 78130