Medical professionals from Cook Children’s Health Care System held a press conference Friday morning to detail high volumes at its emergency rooms and urgent care centers.
The increase has hospital leaders urging parents to only seek out emergency and urgent care centers ‘unless you really need us.’
“As of Wednesday, at all of our urgent care centers we saw 752 visits,” said Dr. Amy Richardson, Assistant Medical Director for Cook Children’s Urgent Care Centers. “This is higher than historical volumes in years past and is certainly enough capacity to stretch our resources and overburden them.”
The result, she said, is longer wait times at the hospital system’s seven urgent care clinics in Fort Worth and Prosper.
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The hospital system’s emergency department is also reporting a concerning surge of patients.
“From an emergency department perspective, we are becoming overwhelmed with patients,” said Dr. Taylor Louden, Medical Director of Cook Children’s Emergency Department. “Yesterday, we saw 483 patients. We’ve been hitting about 500 patients which as you can imagine is an extreme amount. That’s a patient checking in about every three minutes to our emergency department.”
The influx, he says, is making it difficult to care for the most critically ill patients in need of advanced care.
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Patients like six-month-old Adalyn Brady.
“Within 15 minutes of us being here she was in respiratory failure,” said her mother Alexa Syren. “She had to be intubated.”
The family has been in the hospital for nearly three weeks.
Baby Addy contracted Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV.
The common illness causes cold-like symptoms and can be serious for infants and older adults.
Syren and her husband John Brady say the hospital is packed with families.
“I know at one point the nurse said they only had two open beds,” said Syren. “It’s heartbreaking not only that you’re here with your kid but all the families going through [the same situation].”
Dr. Louden says the number of RSV cases is about the same as last year, but there is something concerning.
“This year, unfortunately, RSV seems to be hitting harder,” he said. “Our patients are sicker. We’re tying up our ICU beds sooner than we were last year during this time.”
Cook Children’s is also caring for children battling COVID-19 and the flu, which is beginning to ramp up for the season.
“We do anticipate this problem is going to worsen as we get through the winter months as opposed to getting better,” warned Richardson.
Cook Children’s leaders are urging parents against seeking emergency departments or urgent care clinics unless necessary, seeking primary care doctors virtually or in person, or community health clinics for those who are under or uninsured.
However, they stress no one is turned away in the emergency room or urgent care, but expect wait hours of up to ten hours.
“Please come to see us but please approach us with an understanding there are times where we do have to prioritize care and take care of those significantly ill children,” said Richardson. “If parents do find themselves waiting, we would just ask that they have some understanding that we’re a little overwhelmed with our resources right now.”
Non-emergency patients may have to wait upwards of 10 hours to be treated, according to Louden.
“We’re doing the best we can to take care of patients as quickly as we can but we just really ask you to really limit your use of the emergency department during this time, unless you really need us,” he said. “[Patients come in with] a rash. We get ingrown toenails, we get a kid who’s had a cough and congestion for a day and some low-grade fevers.”
The spike in hospital visits is only expected to worsen over the holidays.
Dr. Richardson is urging the use of COVID-style hygiene practices: frequent and thorough hand washing, sneezing and coughing into your arm, keeping your child home if they are sick and consider wearing a face mask.
Another challenge facing medical professionals is a smaller supply of the RSV antibody vaccine, recommended for babies six months and younger.
“The supply is a little bit, was an issue this season,” said Pediatrician Bianka Soria-Olmos with Cook Children’s Pediatrics in Haslet. “But reach out to your pediatrician because I do know that some offices still do have that available.”
Baby Addy is expected to remain in the hospital for another two weeks, according to her parents.
Syren says it is often difficult for parents to determine whether they should make that late-night trip to the ER or try to care for their symptoms at home.
“Trust your instincts,” she said. “Parents know your babies best.”
She says when they first noticed signs their daughter was having trouble breathing, they sought their primary care doctor and virtual visits, then rushed her to a hospital close to their home.
That hospital ended up sending the baby home.
“If you do get sent home and you just feel like it’s really something wrong, don’t stop trying,” said Syren.
Two days later, dad woke up to find Addy unresponsive.
They called 911 and rushed the baby to Cook Children’s where she has been for 21 days.
Syren praises nurses and doctors at Cook Children’s for the special care they are providing their baby and says they could not do it without the support of family and friends.
The family is active in the popular ‘cornhole’ lawn game community, specifically with the South Dallas Cornhole Region group.
"John and Alexa have been part of our cornhole family for a long time," the group told NBC 5. "The cornhole community is good about rallying to help if one of our people is in need."
The South Dallas Cornhole Region group is organizing a fundraiser to help the family.
The Addy Brady Family Benefit will take place Sunday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m. at The After Church located at 1511 FM-664 in Waxahachie.
The fundraiser will feature silent auctions and raffles.
For more information, click here.
The family can also be reached via email at john.gutterup@gmail.com or 469-337-4170.
“We just want lots of prayers for our sweet girl,” said Syren through tears. “And we want to bring awareness so no other parents have to go through this.”
Baby Addy’s mom says she is especially grateful to see signs of progress or “little wins” in her little girl, no matter how small they may appear.
“Her grabbing one of her toys,” she said. “Kind of starting from the beginning.”
