AUSTIN, Texas - It was all hands on deck moving patients from Brackenridge to the new hospital.
"We are very excited that we have all the tools, the most modern tools, to provide the best care," said registered nurse Angel Torres-Carmona.
While hospital staff, volunteers and EMT's rushed to get everyone ready for the move, one patient, Lillian Mabee, watched in calm anticipation.
"I have no problem with it. As a matter of fact, I'm looking forward to it," she said. "This hospital is beautiful but they said 'wait til you see the other, when you move there, you'll agree.'"
Moving patients like Mabee wasn’t simple, and the hospital, along with EMS, have been preparing for this move for over a year.
"We got some patients that are special needs patients,” explained Austin-Travis County EMS’ Mike Benavides. “We've got patients in ventilators, we've got patients with isolation requirements so we've planned and made arrangements for all these types of patients."
If you're wondering about what it took to move over 100 patients from Brackenridge to Dell Seton, Austin-Travis EMS brought in 14 ambulances staffed with 50 paramedics, while Seton brought in 1500 employees and staffers.
"We have teams working in this hospital and the other hospital to do a safe arrival to the next one,” said Torres-Carmona. “They know immediately, that when the patient gets into their bed, care is delivered."
With one patient down and dozens more to go, emergency crews and hospital staffers knew the real work was just getting started.
"This has been a long time coming and it's nice to see that it's finally coming to fruition," said Benavides.
ATCEMS moved up to ten patients an hour to Dell Seton Medical Center. They hope to be finished transferring by Sunday night.
Closed roads surrounding Brackenridge and the new hospital will be re-opened at midnight.
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