Memorial Hermann closes 3 stand-alone ERs in Greater Houston

Posted Monday, August 23, 2021 11:11 pm

Memorial Hermann announced Monday that due to the continued COVID-19 surge and the strain on the hospital system’s operations, it was closing three of its 24-hour emergency rooms at 5 p.m. Monday evening until further notice.

The three ERs affected at the Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Centers in Kingwood, Spring and Sienna.

“Patients who are currently receiving care inside any of these Emergency Rooms will be safely discharged or transferred to another Memorial Hermann facility. Members of our community who require emergent care should proceed to another nearby Emergency Center for assistance,” the brief statement from the Memorial Hermann Media Relations team said.

In a statement made to ABC13, memorial Hermann said, “Closing these locations allows us to reassign the staff to other Memorial Hermann locations where their help is critically needed. It also eliminates the need to transfer these patients to the main hospital for admission, if necessary.”

As the delta variant continues to prompt increasing hospitalizations, hospitals throughout Greater Houston, including those in the Katy area have stated that staff are exhausted and capacity at hospitals is short or nonexistent.

More than 350 patients have been admitted to hospitals within the Texas Medical Center for all but two days since Aug. 7, according to TMC data as of Monday evening.