Cam Akers visits

This time of year, during football season, concussion prevention is a big topic. You may have also noticed the NFL taking an extra step to keep players safe. Some players have opted to wear the “guardian cap.”

Did you know if you're flying long distances, you have about a three times higher chance of getting blood clots? Health reporter Haley Hernandez answers questions on whether compression socks are worth the purchase.

Houston Methodist is currently evaluating nearly 75 patients who were in the care of Memorial Hermann before their liver and kidney transplant programs shut down this month for internal and federal investigations.

A Board Certified NICU-Music Therapist with Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital talks about the program and how it's tailored to patients.

March is colorectal cancer awareness month! Stay informed about different screening options for colon cancer, including at-home tests. #ColorectalCancerAwareness #ScreeningOptions #Prevention

When the 25-year-old nurse was asked why she took the medication, she responded, “I hear voices telling me to do it.” And this is not her first time doing the exact same thing.

Approximately 37.3 million people, or about 11% of the U.S. population, have diabetes while an additional 96 million have prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lung cancer causes the most cancer deaths in the United States, according to Houston Methodist.

Amidst the sea of pink ribbons and the collective efforts to raise awareness about breast cancer this October, many stories remind us that this disease knows no age boundaries.

How the music therapy program is helping cancer patients smile at Houston Methodist.

Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It causes organ damage and death.In a typical year, at least 1.7 million adults in the U.S. develop sepsis, and at least 350,000 die in the hospital.

As 100-degree-plus days have become normal for summer 2023, Houston Methodist hospitals said they are seeing an uptick in emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses.

Christopher Baty said, looking back, he remembers aches, pains, and even blood in his urine but he pushed through his Ironman training without mentioning the symptoms to a doctor.

Health changes are best achieved in two-week increments, according to Houston Methodist Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Nicole Bartek.

In August of 2021, Weaymon “Dub” Crochet from Bellaire went to Houston Methodist in the Texas Medical Center with COVID.

Rice economists uncover hospital prices and create an excel sheet to help consumers.

A northwest Houston shopping, dining and entertainment destination will be bathed in brilliant pink lights throughout October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As more people receive COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, some people with a compromised immune system or a history of bad reactions to vaccines may need alternate options.

The hospital price transparency law requires hospitals to list the cash prices for procedures on their websites, requiring them to be easily accessible and allow patients to compare cash prices with insurance.

Construction has begun on Houston Methodist’s newest hospital tower which will house a new and larger emergency department in the Texas Medical Center.

Rice University said Monday that it has joined forces with Houston Methodist to create a center where physicians, academic researchers and university students work side by side with student athletes, trainers and coaches to advance research and education in human performance.

According to the National Institutes of Health, contrast-enhanced mammography uses contrast material combined with the mammogram to highlight areas that might be breast cancer and that could be missed on the mammogram alone. This is similar to breast MRI.

A Houston Methodist doctor who was thrust into the spotlight in November after her privileges were suspended because of her views on vaccines and early treatment for COVID-19 has plans to file a lawsuit against the hospital system.

Texas exhausts supply of monoclonal antibody treatment as omicron cases surge

Here are things to know for Thursday, Dec. 16:

Houston Methodist announced Wednesday that it has detected 54 cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 since early December.

Houston Methodist has identified eight cases of the omicron variant through its comprehensive virus genome sequencing surveillance project, a spokesperson for the hospital said.

Houston Methodist has suspended the privileges of a local doctor the hospital said was spreading dangerous misinformation about COVID-19 treatments.

Touted as one of the best weapons in the battle to survive Covid 19

Soleo Health said it was selected by Houston Methodist to provide monoclonal antibody treatment to COVID-19 patients in their homes.

There are a few factors that make us vulnerable to a bad flu season, and the main reason could be that people aren’t wearing masks like they did this time last year.

Houston Methodist is renewing its call for recovered COVID-19 patients to donate convalescent plasma.

The unprecedented hospital bed shortage continues across Southeast Texas as the Houston area sets a record for the number of daily new COVID-19 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

After Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement Tuesday that he tested positive for Covid 19, his communications director says he is receiving the Regeneron antibody infusion therapy.Governor Abbott said he was not feeling any symptoms which has sparked some questions as to who is able to get the monoclonal antibody treatment.

Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital throws the smallest baby ever delivered a graduation ceremony after spending over 140 days in the NICU.

It’s a story of love and determination.

Houston Methodist Hospital says it is seeing an “alarming spike” in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the Houston area.

Here are things to know for Wednesday, June 23:

More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine have been fired or resigned after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the vaccine requirement.

While hospitalized, Lucio Arreola dove into songwriting as part of his therapy while waiting for a new heart. When he received a heart transplant, he made his new beat the base of a song.

Here are things to know for Monday, June 14:

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Saturday from a group of Houston Methodist employees opposing the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Here are things to know for Thursday, June 10:

Here are things to know for Monday, June 7:

Several Houston Methodist nurses and employees protested the vaccine requirement that goes into effect after Monday, June 7.

This Mother’s Day, the Houston Methodist Willowbrook campus is asking for all moms who have delivered a baby in the past year to donate breastmilk, if they can. Willing mothers will have to be within a year of birth because that’s when they make milk most suitable for premature babies.

Robert Powell says he woke up with two black eyes, a split lip and a bruised jaw.

Houston Methodist Hospital is now offering walk-in vaccines at all seven of its vaccine clinics.

A nurse of more than six years at Houston Methodist Baytown, who doesn’t want to be identified, said she is not okay with the hospital’s policy of requiring all employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

HOUSTON – Andrew Capen, 33, is the recipient of a miraculous double lung transplant after battling COVID-19. Houston Methodist Hospital said he is one of the longest surviving patients on ECMO, a machine that basically works in place of your lungs once they’ve been so damaged they won’t work anymore. Capen survived on ECMO for six months before receiving new lungs. While the end result is wonderful, Capen said it was a dark, lonely time in the hospital leading up to it. His surgeon, surgical director of lung transplantation at Houston Methodist Dr. Eddie Suarez, said it’s a difficult operation under normal circumstances but because Capen’s health was deteriorating it was almost impossible.

HOUSTON – From the day the pandemic spread to the Greater Houston region, Houston Methodist has studied positive COVID-19 test results looking for mutations. “They are spreading rapidly.”Houston Methodist is one of the only entities that look for the variants, what Dr. Olsen calls “a very complicated, intense computational process” that requires a lot of time and staff. “We’ve done more than 20,000 sequences, which by far is more than any other state in the United States,” Dr. Olsen said. Ad“We expect viruses to mutate, it’s what they do,” Dr. Olsen said. The Houston Methodist lab processes 3-5,000 COVID-19 tests per day from all eight Methodist hospitals, plus any affiliated emergency centers and clinics.

HOUSTON – Harris County health officials scrambled Monday to administer 8,430 doses of the coronavirus vaccine after a power outage caused some of the vials to thaw. That led to 8,430 doses of the Moderna vaccine to thaw. County officials contacted Moderna and were given guidance from the vaccine-maker that the remaining doses could be refrigerated and used later. Houston Methodist’s statementIn a statement, Houston Methodist officials said they had received 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the batch of thawed shots. Ad“We didn’t waste a drop,” said Robert Schwartz, executive vice president of Houston Methodist Hospital.

HOUSTON – On Friday, Houston Methodist Hospital answered questions about the vaccine rollout during a virtual town hall. Health experts covered a range of topics but wanted to focus on helping educate communities of color about COVID-19. They have programs in the works, that include partnering with minority organizations and churches in to help spread the word about the vaccine. “Really the goal is to bring death down and ultimately control the pandemic,” said Dr. Marc Boom, the president and CEO of Houston Methodist. Arianne Dowdell, VP and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, was the moderator of the town hall.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist held a COVID-19 Vaccine Town Hall on Friday at 10 a.m. The town hall was designed to help people understand the COVID-19 vaccine and its rollout, particularly to help educate communities of color about the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Houston Methodist. Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, Dr. Victor Narcisse, associate division head of Hospital Medicine and Arianne Dowdell, vice president, chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer at Houston Methodist answered questions during the event. KPRC 2 broadcast a live stream of the 10 a.m. event. Watch it, in full, in the video player below.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)HOUSTON – Houston Methodist is hosting a free virtual town hall Friday to answer questions about the coronavirus vaccine. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and is open to anyone. Organizers said the goal of the event is to answer frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, including questions about its safety and availability. Attendance is free, but registration is required. Organizers said they plan on making these virtual town halls a regular occurrence.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist is holding a clinic this weekend. Registration for the clinic was open to the public and publicized on a state website, hospital officials said. “We get it,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist. “We were selected by the state as a hub because we’ve gotten vaccines into arms so fast.”According to Boom, Methodist has administered 44,000 first doses and 13,000 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Boom said he is optimistic that there will be a faster acceleration of the vaccine’s arrival in a couple of weeks.

Here’s a look at how Houston-area hospital systems plan to distribute the approved vaccines. Memorial HermannIn compliance with Texas’ guidance for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, Memorial Hermann is prioritizing vaccine distribution to persons in Phase 1A and Phase 1B. As soon as the vaccine is more widely available, Memorial Hermann plans to offer it to its patients and members of the community. According to its website, vaccine distribution plans are determined by the FDA, CDC, and state and local health departments. University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health) SystemOn Dec. 30, UTMB Health announced plans to expand its employee vaccination program to high-risk individuals.

HOUSTON – Houston area hospitals and clinics that offer COVID-19 vaccinations are currently evaluating how to prioritize patients who qualify to receive a vaccine under Phase 1B of the state’s rollout. “Phase 1B can be interpreted differently by different people. Houston Methodist said Thursday certain patients will soon start getting notifications to schedule appointments for their coronavirus shot. Officials said they will soon start notifying patients via a text message in the following order:Patients who are 75 or older. On Wednesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said vaccine providers can begin administering the vaccine to people in Phase 1B.

HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and City of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner received an update on the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Houston Methodist Tuesday and visited with frontline healthcare workers receiving the vaccine. And while there is hope on the horizon, folks still need to get tested, folks need to cancel gatherings, folks need to make sure and wear their face coverings. And let me encourage other people in the city when your opportunity comes, let me encourage you to take the vaccine itself. Not to say no, not to delay, not to hold off, but when you’re able to take it, please take it. Thank you, health care providers.”

HOUSTON – The first coronavirus vaccines arrived in Houston and thousands of additional doses are expected on Tuesday. Healthcare workers are among the first to receive the shots and ProHealth Medical Staffing, a Houston company, helped in that process. She said about 30 of the company’s nurses and medical staff will help administer the vaccine to frontline workers at Houston Methodist. The Department of State Health Services said 19,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were delivered to four sites across Texas on Monday, including MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Another 19 sites will receive 75,075 doses on Tuesday, including seven hospitals in the Houston region.

HOUSTON – The Houston Methodist Hospital is now administering the FDA emergency use authorization drug, bamlanivimab. There are three sites where the hospital offers monoclonal antibody infusions: Houston Methodist Hospital at the Texas Medical Center, Houston Methodist Sugar Land and Houston Methodist Continuing Care Facility near the West campus in Katy. Since the hospital system started this therapy on Friday, they said 50 patients have been treated. Sandy Zeluff said she was one of the first patients to receive this treatment. After her symptoms were getting progressively worse last week, she says she made a recovery within a day of infusion.

HOUSTON – Gordon Baker, 62, has devoted his life to caring for others and now he finds himself in the fight of his life. Baker has spent 28 years of his life as a paramedic, most recently with Harris County ESD 48 in Katy. Three weeks ago, Baker contracted the coronavirus and was admitted to Houston Methodist West Houston. He remained there for about two weeks until he was transported to Houston Methodist in the Texas Medical Center on Sunday night. Family, friends and loved ones held a prayer vigil for Baker on Sunday.

HOUSTON – Building on seven months of extensive data gathering, analysis and publication, the Texas Medical Center is updating its public dashboards to provide user-friendly information in tracking COVID-19 in greater Houston. The dashboard highlights the reproduction rate (rate at which COVID-19 is being spread), testing trends, number of overall positive cases, and ICU bed capacity, among other topics. KPRC 2 uses this information to keep news reports up-to-date for the nine counties the TMC serves. “There is no delay in the TMC data so when you look at testing data, positivity rate, people being hospitalized, you’re getting real-time data,” said Dr. Mark Boom, with Houston Methodist Hospital. President and CEO of TMC, Bill McKeon, said the real-time data shows proof when social distancing has worked.

So, they get this temporary heart failure and the symptoms can actually be pretty severe enough where they can almost mimic the signs of a heart attack, Adesina said. Cleveland Clinic researchers found cases of broken heart syndrome doubled in two of their hospitals in March and April, which is the same time the pandemic ramped up job losses, isolation and concerns surrounding coronavirus. They now believe extreme stress during the pandemic could be causing this increase of broken heart syndrome among the general public. He said its not just high emotions that can trigger broken heart syndrome but also an infection. That means both people with increased worries right now and those with a COVID-19 infection are at risk for this syndrome.

HOUSTON – A local family is hoping for a miracle to help their father heal from the coronavirus. Harris Rotman, 81, checked into Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center Monday with a high fever. “This could be a matter of life and death for my father and many other people that have reached out to me,” said his daughter Beth Rotman. Adding to their plight, the family said a plasma donation treatment being offered at several local hospitals is not an option for their father. She said the family and her father are ready to take the offer, if allowed.

Lawrence Barris told KPRC 2 reporter Rose-Ann Aragon he started to experience “sweats, shivers ... a lot of weakness,” and shortly after his symptoms started, Sharlene Barris also became ill. After their recovery, the couple said they were contacted by Houston Methodist about an opportunity to donate plasma to help future recovery. Sharlene Barris. "They've capped the number of people that can get the plasma," Sharlene Barris explained. “Keep moving forward on allowing that number [to rise].”The Barris family said they are still working on ways to advocate for patients in need.

Here are things you need to know for Thursday, June 18:1. Google slated to open new Houston office by 2021Google Inc. is opening its first local sales office in Houston, according to the Houston Business Journal. Houston Methodist and UnitedHealthcare back in-network after finalizing an agreementHouston Methodist and UnitedHealthcare finalized an agreement that will ensure UnitedHealthcare members enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual and Medicare Advantage plans will continue to receive care at Houston Methodist hospitals and its physicians. The new agreement is effective June 1, meaning UnitedHealthcare members are currently in-network with all Houston Methodist hospitals and facilities. The distribution site is at St. Johns Downtown Houston every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and is also offering free COVID-19 testing.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist and UnitedHealthcare finalized an agreement that will ensure UnitedHealthcare members enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual and Medicare Advantage plans will continue to receive care at Houston Methodist hospitals and its physicians. The new agreement is effective June 1, meaning UnitedHealthcare members are currently in-network with all Houston Methodist hospitals and facilities. BACKGROUND: 100,000 patients could lose access to doctors at Houston Methodist hospitals due to insurance company’s contract dispute“Our top priority throughout this process was ensuring the more than 1 million members we’re honored to serve in Houston have access to quality, affordable health care, and this new agreement accomplishes that goal. We appreciate Houston Methodist’s collaboration in helping achieve this outcome,” UnitedHealthcare wrote on its website. “We are honored to continue supporting the more than 3.9 million people throughout Texas who depend on us for access to quality and affordable health care.”The previous contract expired on Jan. 1 and hundreds of thousands of people were left scrambling to find new doctors as a result of the dispute between the insurance company and the hospital system.

A local first-grader is spreading a little bit of happiness to local nurses and doctors on the frontlines. On May 1, Houston-natives London and her brother TJ Boyce provided hundreds of staff members at LBJ Hospital with Bluebell Ice Cream mini sandwiches, which London is the new face of. London works closely with her siblings on their family’s Boyce Ice Cream Truck. According to a release, London has a passion for making others smile, so this idea to serve ice cream to health care workers came about when she saw on the news how hard medical heroes have been working to keep our community healthy. London and TJ will give out free ice cream and popsicles to nurses and doctors on Monday at Houston Methodist Hospital.

HOUSTON – Health care professionals are finding themselves stepping in as surrogate family members amid the coronavirus pandemic. Janeisy Romero, a nurse with Houston Methodist, said she doesn’t take the responsibility lightly. “I try my best to be there with them during those last moments.”Tabatha Ketner, a nurse at Houston Methodist, is also working in the highly infectious disease unit. Perhaps one death, a 93-year-old man named Richard Steubinger, weighs on the Houston Methodist nurses. According to Romero, Steubinger had a special place in the hearts of many in the COVID-19 unit health care workers, including Ketner.

HOUSTON – Like many local hospitals, Houston Methodist Hospital opened a special unit to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. They’re calling it the “Coronavirus ICU,” and right now there is a revolving door of 88 patients total in the Houston Methodist system, 24 patients at the Texas Medical Center campus. Nurses working inside the unit said when they manage to discharge one, the next patient comes in. The Texas Nurses Association supports what Carnahan and Catalan said, the number of patients has remained relatively low considering the size of Houston. Houston Methodist Hospital says their ICUs across all eight campuses are at 70% capacity.

HOUSTON – Approximately 157 Coronavirus patients are being cared for within the Houston Methodist Hospital System, according to a spokesperson. Some of those patients are benefitting from the newest medical innovations available, according to Dr. Faisal Masud, Medical Director of the Critical Care Center at Houston Methodist Hospital. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” Dr. Masud said. “We can give up to 60 liters of oxygen,” Dr. Masud said. Dr. Masud also said they have shared designs and ideas with other hospitals across the country to stop the spread of the virus.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist Hospital will be the first academic medical center in the country to transfuse donated plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient to a critically-ill COVID-19 patient. "What we did is transfused COVID-19 convalescent plasma to two critically ill patients," said Dr. Eric Salazar, the principal investigator and a physician-scientist at Houston Methodist. Houston Methodist Hospital said the FDA must approve each patient using the donated convalescent serum. Houston Methodist said physicians began recruiting blood plasma donors on Friday from approximately 250 patients who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus at Houston Methodist hospitals. "This is like a regular plasma donation, and so we the donors have to qualify to be regular plasma donors.

But now, the Highly Infectious Disease Unit at Houston Methodist Continuing Care Hospital in Katy will be used to treat coronavirus patients. Inside this state-of-the-art, isolation unit, huge air pumping machines are used to constantly pump virus-contaminated-air out of each room and away from the hospital and other patients and staff. How many coronavirus patients are they treating right now? In all, Houston Methodist says it is currently treating 16 coronavirus patients — 12 presumptive positive patients and four confirmed coronavirus patients. Houston Methodist is also working in partnership with city and county officials to open three different mobile-testing centers for coronavirus patients.

HOUSTON – A hundred-thousand people insured by UnitedHealthcare are scrambling to find new doctors and hospitals after the insurance company and Houston Methodist Hospital could not come to terms over reimbursement rates. The contract expired at midnight, meaning the seven Houston Methodist hospitals and its outpatient clinics are no longer in-network as of Jan. 1, 2020. "90%, probably more than that, of the doctors (in Baytown) are Methodist doctors," Thompson said. UnitedHealthcare released the following statement:“Care at Houston Methodist Hospital is significantly more expensive than care at other top-ranked hospitals in Texas as well as some of the most prestigious hospitals in the entire country. United’s unfortunate decision – and disruption to their members’ in-network access to Houston Methodist -- is forcing employers and consumers to pick different health care options for this year.