Shriners Hospital for Children, Galveston Closed

By Alisa Stingley • astingley@gannett.com • September 15, 2008

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Four patients transferred from Shriners Burns Hospital in Galveston, Texas, to the Shreveport Shriners Hospital last week won’t be returning to the Galveston facility Tuesday, as originally planned, said Christian Berg, public relations director for Shreveport Shriners Hospital, an orthopedic facility.

The four patients are being released or transferred, he said.

Sylvia, who was featured in a Times story Saturday, was discharged this afternoon; and she and her father, Bennie Puente, were going home to Oklahoma with help from a Dallas relative, Berg said. The family lives in Tipton, Okla.

The other three patients and their family members will fly to Shriners Burn Hospital in Boston on Tuesday morning to continue care there. Two members of the Galveston medical team who accompanied the youths to Shreveport also will go to Boston. The other members of the team will return to their homes this week in the Houston area to reunite with their families even though Galveston is still not allowing residents to return, Berg said.

“We haven’t yet been able to get an idea as to the extent of damage the Galveston hospital may (or may not) have experienced,” he said. “However, with the extensive loss of utilities and disruption of supply lines into the area, we anticipate the hospital may be closed for the next few weeks.”