The following is in from UTMB.  Also, they have started a blog related to UTMB questions and answers – Please visit www.utmb.edu<http://www.utmb.edu> for the posts and up-to-date information. 

UTMB update:
7:30 p.m., Sunday, September 14
With the arrival today of a Disaster Medical Assistance Team on campus, UTMB will turn over its patient care responsibilities for a time to focus on full recovery. This means that we will begin releasing many essential employees (the majority of them clinical staff) over the next few days and calling in other essential personnel to focus on business functions that are key to the recovery effort.
On a related note, because DMAT personnel are here, we don’t need clinical volunteers at this point. If you’re interested in volunteering in some other capacity and you’re an essential employee, please let us know.
The city is now allowing essential UTMB personnel – with ID/E1 badges – back on the island, and supervisors are working on their recovery staffing plans now. Please wait to hear from your supervisor before heading back to the campus. It is too early for research faculty to return. The only essential research personnel we will be able to accommodate at this point are those coming to replenish dry ice.
Although city officials have said that UTMB will be among the first to receive power, we don’t expect that to happen for two to four weeks. As a result, UTMB will remain on emergency status and in lock-down mode for an indefinite period of time.
EDUCATION
There will be no classes for at least a week. Dr. Garland Anderson is working with the deans and residency program directors on the details. Students and residents should continue to check this site, the alert site and phone line, and be on the lookout for First Call messages.
RESEARCH
Dr. Anderson and Research Services personnel are working to bring essential research staff in to attend to animals, freezer repositories and equipment. This is a “protect and preserve” effort only. Active research will not resume at this point. But, with the emphasis shifting from clinical care for the time being, the research facilities are our highest priority.
We have restored emergency power to MRB, Building 17, BSB, GNL, Shope Lab, Old Shrine and Surgical Research Annex. Departments that have research labs with research freezers in any of these buildings need to send their E1 early-return staff to campus tomorrow to replenish dry ice.
Laboratory staff in buildings that currently have emergency power should not return tomorrow and will be turned away without access. We will notify you as soon as we can when E1 early-return staff can come back.
The E1 staff who are returning tomorrow should report to the MRB lobby starting at 10 a.m. Please wear appropriate lab-entry attire and bring your UTMB ID/E1 badge. Please try to notify other E1 early-return staff in your department so this message gets widely distributed.
HEALTH SYSTEM
As noted, our clinical activities will be minimal for the next two weeks. Dr. Karen Sexton will be leading the Health System’s efforts to plan for resumption of full services, including hospitals, on- and off-campus clinics, and our Correctional Managed Care enterprise.
Many of our emergency generators are running smoothly. Our communications systems are coming on line one by one. We hope to have water for showers and other essentials within the next couple of days. We do have plenty of drinking water on hand. We are bringing in outside crews and an environmental health team to help with clean-up and recovery.
As Dr. Sexton told employees during today’s 3 p.m. briefing, “We had a plan to care for our patients and our people, and it worked. Now it’s time to step back, take some well-deserved rest, and get this great institution back on its feet.”
Thanks to everyone who’s volunteered to help with the recovery effort. We will be back and stronger than ever.
UTMB Emergency Operations Center Leadership

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.