CMMC Helps Hospital With No ENT Coverage During Texas Winter Storm

During the recent cold weather snap and ensuing power and water problems experienced in the Texas winter storm, I had an interesting case.  The patient was an elderly male with dementia due to stroke who had accidentally swallowed his upper partial denture.  It was lodged in his throat and required an Otolaryngologist for removal. 

His local hospital did not have any ENT coverage so they tried to transfer to larger hospitals in the area including Houston and San Antonio.  Many of those hospitals were also having electrical and water outages and could not take the patient.  The CEO of our hospital was contacted and asked if we could take care of him.  He was transferred overnight and I worked him into the schedule that morning. 

You can see the clasps of the partial and the checkerboard frame work where the teeth sit on the X-ray.  It was right at the level of the larynx (voice-box).  Intubation was not possible because the clasps blocked the airway.  I used a “glide-scope” to visualize the partial and removed It with a McGill forceps.  I then intubated the patient so I could examine the airway and esophagus. 

He had a few partial thickness lacerations of the pharynx and swelling of one part of the larynx but not enough to cause difficulty breathing, so he was extubated in the OR and returned to the ward with instructions that he should not be allowed to use the partial.  It was ineffective anyway because he had lost the anchoring teeth some time in the past and it had nothing to hang onto.

This is an example of how regional and state hospitals help each other in a time of crisis.  Our Texas winter storm left many without power and water for extended periods of time. Floresville was lucky that our power company, FELPS, did not have any outages and although our hospital did have some frozen main lines outside the hospital, our maintenance team was able to bring those back on-line quickly.

Thanks to FELPS and the CMMC Facilities and Maintenance team for keeping our hospital on line through the storm!