Amid Austin hospital strikes, residents discuss how Kyle may be next

KYLE — Ascension Seton Austin nurses recently held a strike on June 27 to protest against work environments and understaffing. Though Ascension Seton Hays in Kyle did not participate, residents say it may not be long before it hits closer to home.

Community members have been vocal about understaffing and the inability for the local hospital to accommodate the rapid growth of the city. This could partially be due to the trauma center level of the facility. Ascension Seton Hays is a Level II trauma center — the highest in Hays County — which causes many individuals residing both inside and outside of the county to travel there for emergencies. Surrounding communities, such as Bastrop, Buda, Dripping Springs, Lockhart, San Marcos and Wimberley often make the trip to Kyle as it is the only option other than Austin. This high demand from a number of growing cities have put immense pressure on the hospital’s staff.

“[It seems like] they’re kind of rushing you out … They’re basically like, ‘No. We’ve got to get you out of here. We have other people,’” said Jennifer McMillan Perry, a frequent patient.

Perry has Crohn’s disease and has been a regular visitor of the hospital since her diagnosis three years ago.

“Typically, when you go into an ER, you go in, you check in, you sit down, they take you over to the side to the triage, they ask, ‘What’s wrong,’ and then they send you back until they have a room for you. For a while, that was the way it worked,” explained Perry. “The last two times I went, it seemed like they were doing things a little different. They would call you back and triage you in a back room that was curtained off with a bed. Now it has a recliner chair … Your hospital bed was now in the hallway … You basically have a number stuck on the wall beside your bed and you have no way to call your nurse, no way to call for help. People are just passing, coming and going.”

The hustle and bustle in the building was something that local resident Mike Cato took notice of as well.

“Sometimes in between shifts or transitioning from nurse to nurse, [the term for my diagnosis] would get glossed over and wouldn't get caught. They didn’t quite get the phrase correctly. That’s a matter of them being rushed to get to the next patient because they’re overloaded,” said Cato.

The correct phrasing and diagnosis is not something a patient should be required to remember at a hospital, especially if they are not in the right mind to inform doctors of the issue, he said.

“One of the effects I had when the oxygen level [in my body] was so low is that I stopped having memories for about 24 hours, so I didn’t remember things I had said with the previous person who talked to me and so forth. I may have answered questions correctly, that’s what my wife was telling me anyway, but I could have easily missed something,” stressed Cato. “Not having medical staff with a high discipline on communication between each other could have been bad.”

According to Perry, doctors in the area are often sending patients to the hospital as well, due to the lack of available appointments, “They tell you, ‘We can see you in two weeks or you can go to the ER,’” she said.

The overwhelming number of patients are causing nurses to leave the hospital, said Cato, after a nurse confided in him that she was leaving because “she’d had enough.”

Kyle residents are simply requesting more staff, an expansion or another hospital in the area due to quality of care declining.

“I just feel like sometimes it comes down to how busy they are. I feel like it boils down to that, in the end, no matter what because they either take the time, if they have the time, to really listen and hear what you’re saying or they’re like, ‘Okay, let’s give you some medicine and get you out of here’ … It comes down to population and whether the hospital is going to expand to keep up with the [city],” Perry said.

Ascension Seton Hays declined to comment on this story.