Wilford Hall Emergency Center at JBSA-Lackland is now part of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) trauma and emergency healthcare system.

Hundreds of people took part Wednesday in a training exercise that simulated a plane crash at the San Antonio International Airport.

In a domestic violence crisis, the ability to assess how deadly the situation is could save lives.

As hospitalization numbers continued to shoot up Thursday, driven by unvaccinated residents, hospitals in the San Antonio area are feeling the squeeze.

SAN ANTONIO – COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to climb in Bexar County, reaching 663 Wednesday night, but the head of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council says the county still isn’t in dire straits. If beds get scarce, nurses and respiratory therapists can be brought on through a state contract to create more staffed beds in hospitals. As of Wednesday night, 10% of staffed beds were available in Bexar County hospitals. “It creates a problem for someone who could have a medical emergency but doesn’t have COVID, and there’s simply no room at the inn.”STRAC oversees the regional emergency health system for a 22-county area. Epley says the area around Bexar County is seeing similar trends at its hospitals.

SAN ANTONIO – A statewide effort to ease the burden on intensive care units in El Paso, currently overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, is being coordinated by the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC). Eric Epley, executive director of STRAC, is coordinating what’s known as “load balancing” to free up beds for incoming patients. Six other El Paso patients were ready to fly out of area hospitals, Epley said, until the border community was hit by snow and ice. “We expect that to clear, and then we’ll start moving those patients again to all parts of Texas,” Epley said. “There is an old saying that many hands makes light work.”Epley said it’s difficult to say how long patients will need to be transferred.

San Antonio A group of medical experts from hospitals across our region are part of a pediatric committee at Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council or STRAC. The co-chair of the committee, Dr. Lillian Liao, said they are creating a pediatric crisis response guideline that will be activated in the region in the event that we have a surge in pediatric COVID-19 cases or any other illness that could overwhelm the health care system. On July 21, Metro Health reported 211 children under the age of 1 had contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Dr. Liao is concerned with schools reopening soon. They can spread that virus to their family members or to other children who may become symptomatic, Dr. Liao said.