MIDLAND, Texas — The most precious of storage rooms in all the Permian Basin right now is our emergency management supply.
There are boxes of masks, COVID-19 test kits, medical gowns and sanitizer.
We're in pretty good shape when it comes to these kinds of supplies, but some things that aren't stored in this room are nurses, respiratory therapists and ventilators.
These are our biggest needs in hospitals right now.
"Recently, two of the biggest items that hospitals have been reaching out for assistance on is medical staff and ventilators," Rickey George, Ector County emergency management coordinator, said.
So, since we can't help ourselves locally, we're now looking to the state.
Local emergency managers have been filling out State of Texas Assistance Requests or STAR forms left and right.
"So, what happens is we complete a STAR request that our local hospitals are requesting x number of nurses to handle the emergencies that they're dealing with," George said. "So, what happens is the state will review those and then what they'll do is look at their capabilities, do they have the resources to send them and sometimes what they do is called a partial fill."
The good news is, those requests are now being granted.
Midland Memorial Hospital now has 21 registered nurses and 10 respiratory therapists.
Medical Center Hospital has 6 out of 10 requested critical care nurses, 10 respiratory therapists and 5 med-surg (non-critical care) nurses.
This is the first wave of help the hospitals have had in several months.
"The problem is, everybody in the state is requesting resources and the state has a limited amount of resources as well to give," George said.
So, what we get in West Texas, you can bet is surely treasured.
With this new armor, hospitals are hoping to battle COVID-19 with more force.