SAN ANTONIO — As the coronavirus continues to surge in El Paso, San Antonio is receiving patients from the west Texas city. Local healthcare workers are also being sent there to help with the crisis.
Javier Gutierrez, an RN case manager at Methodist Hospital, said he didn't think twice about heading west.
"It wasn't even a second thought to volunteer to go," he said. "I lived in El Paso as a child. El Paso was a home to me."
His former home is seeing a rapid spread of the virus, which has overwhelmed local hospitals.
"They became overwhelmed very quickly," says Eric Epley, of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC). "Their numbers have been climbing rapidly more like the way we climbed in late May and in June."
It's a Texas-sized effort to help El Paso. Epley said San Antonio is assisting the border town in two ways.
For one, San Antonio hospitals are taking in patients. As of Friday, 46 of the 253 COVID-19 patients in Bexar County were from El Paso.
"All the patients are critical," Epley said. "ICU patients."
Epley said there are about 80 healthcare workers from across Texas in El Paso to assist. He said up to 20 doctors, nurses and paramedics are from our area.
"Texans helping Texans is the way we have gotten through this pandemic," Epley said. "We need to keep doing that."
Gutierrez was there for six days and was working nonstop. He says he mostly cared for those who were sick in intensive care.
"A lot of my patients were on ventilators," he said. "A lot of oxygen support. Many of them came in with flu-like symptoms."
In terms of how many patients San Antonio could see from El Paso, Epley said that's hard to answer. He said it is a balancing act.
"We are seeing some of the numbers coming to San Antonio, but...not all the El Paso patients are coming to San Antonio," he said. "They are going across the state as well."
Epley said he studies local hospital numbers daily and said that, right now, they are steady and flat.
"If needed, we will turn it off, if this becomes a problem for our community," he said. "You can only help as much as you can help, then you have to take care of your own community."
Gutierrez said he is glad he is home safe and sound. He was also recently tested after returning, and the results were negative.