Medical professionals from throughout the area have been taking care of medically fragile hurricane evacuees for the past four days in a special needs shelter set up at the old Temple police station.
“It’s very heartwarming to see what’s going on over there,” said Dr. Stephen Sibbitt, associate chief medical officer from Scott & White Memorial Hospital.
Sibbitt was preparing Monday for his 5 p.m. shift to begin at the shelter.
A lot of people are volunteering their time to help the evacuees, he said.
The evacuees were dispersed throughout the state in a coordinated effort based on needs, Sibbitt said.
The Temple special needs shelter is home to between 60 and 65 patients and about 40 family members.
“We have some fairly complicated cases, along with their family members,” he said. “Many are on oxygen, some have tracheostomies that are being managed, many have chronic medical conditions that need daily evaluation, many are immobile.”
While the state has coordinated care, Sibbitt said, Scott & White has taken a lead in coordinating nursing, physician care, case management and social work assistance at the shelter.
“What I like about it is that I see my colleagues from Scott & White, King’s Daughters, the VA … all of us working together,” he said. “We sort of take off the name or institution badge and we go out there and help.”
Not all of the patients arrived with medical records and some were unable to communicate medical needs or their prescriptions.
“We’ve had to do a lot of investigative work,” Sibbitt said.
The challenges are being met, he said, because all it takes is a phone call and help arrives.
Sibbitt said he is helping colleague Dr. David Lindzey, associate chief medical officer for system integration at Scott & White and Bell County medical director.
Lindzey is coordinating physician coverage at other county facilities and Sibbitt is coordinating care at the Temple special needs shelter.
The patient and family members are kept together when possible. Regular meals are served, nursing staff is available 24/7 and physicians are on-call all day, either at the shelter or via pager.
On Saturday, 17 volunteers from Scott & White’s University Medical Campus in Round Rock came to the shelter.
“They were so moved by what they saw and felt the need to assist, they came back on Sunday as well,” Sibbitt said.
Over and over, he said, people have seen those in need of aid and any sense of position, rank and title are discarded.
“You just want to help,” Sibbitt said.
