Kerrville’s CRNAs Bring Healing Beyond the Hospital Rooms

The water came in the middle of the night, fast and furious, swallowing cabins, sweeping away RV parks, and turning the Guadalupe River into a torrent of destruction. By sunrise on July 4, Kerrville, Texas — a town of 25,000 — was reeling. Families were missing. Children had drowned. Whole neighborhoods were torn apart. 

For Patrick Reidy Lower, DNAP, MSHA, CRNA, the floodwaters weren’t just a headline — they were the reality lapping at his family’s doorstep. He was at home, but his relatives were gathered at cabins along the river when the water rose. 

“That morning, my wife woke me up and said, ‘Hey, it’s flooding. They need to get out,’” he recalled. “My father-in-law was trying to move furniture when the water came so fast that he had to swim to a shed. He almost floated away himself.”

The frantic evacuation, with children bundled into cars and belongings left behind, marked just the beginning. Once the waters had receded, Lower arrived at the cabins and found a woman in a tree, scared and screaming for help. When a disaster relief team arrived to rescue her, he informed them he was available to provide any emergency airway services if needed. As a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), also known as a nurse anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist, Lower is a highly trained advanced practice registered nurse who can deliver the full spectrum of anesthesia services and pain management in every type of healthcare setting. 

Lower, who works at Kerrville’s Peterson Regional Medical Center, said he remained in the area to assist with any medical needs. Later, he returned with chainsaws and tools to begin cleaning up his family’s property, which his mother-in-law rents out to visitors. Along with a colleague, Ryan Hartnett, CRNA, he cleared debris and helped people in need. 

The two men also faced the heartbreaking reality of the flood’s aftermath, searching for those who hadn’t survived. Lower said nothing could have prepared him for the emotional toll of what he witnessed. 

“It was terrible,” he said. “Just absolutely devastating.”

While Lower faced the flood’s chaos at home, his colleague Lisa Solder, MSNA, CRNA, was in the operating room at Peterson Regional Medical Center when she heard the hospital activated its disaster protocol. 

Peterson Regional braced for dozens of patients. While the ER triaged, Solder’s cases were routine until one late in the day brought the crisis to her operating room: a young boy with a severe leg injury. 

His mother, who was also a hospital patient, was nearly inconsolable given the trauma. “The whole rest of her family was unaccounted for,” Solder said. “It was heart-wrenching to try and consent her for her son’s anesthesia.” 

The boy was in shock, she said. “He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t moving. He was just lying there, looking at me with big eyes. I asked, ‘Buddy, were you climbing a tree when you hurt your leg?’ He said, ‘No, I was swimming under a house.’ It still chokes me up. I had to stop talking before I cried.” 

Solder administered anesthesia to the boy, worked with the care teams to repair his wound, and reunited him to his mother — and then went home to gather a bag of her own clothes to give the woman, who had come in with nothing of her own. “Our recovery room nurse had her husband bring clothes for the boy, too,” she said. “Sometimes the care we provide isn’t just medical.” 

A day or two later, the mother and son were readmitted. “The boy had an infection in his leg, and the mother had pneumonia and pyelonephritis [a kidney infection] from swallowing so much river water. They were staying on the river for the Fourth of July, and the whole rest of their family is gone — a daughter, a husband and parents,” Solder said. 

The destruction and devastation have left the community stunned, she said, but Kerrville’s story after the floods isn’t only about loss. It’s also about neighbors helping neighbors. 

Laura Real, CRNA, has only lived in Kerrville for 18 months but developed a strong connection to the community immediately. “I can’t walk five feet in the grocery store without meeting someone who tragically lost a family member or friend.” 

She was out of town when the flood hit but returned to Peterson Regional Medical Center on Monday and began treating first responders for fractures, crush injuries, and lacerations from twisted debris pulled from the river. 

Through it all, Kerrville’s CRNAs leaned on one another, just as they do in the operating room. 

“I’m proud of the CRNAs I work with. They’ve all been incredible. CRNAs have been here, stepping up to every need, to every patient that’s come our way, and to every situation as it unfolds. We’re present, we’re effective, and we’re capable,” Real said.

Most of the CRNA group has also been volunteering in the community during their off-time, she said. “We’ve all found ways to chip in to help.” 

“We weren’t just in the OR,” Lower said. “We were making meals at churches, clearing debris, providing IVs for first responders, and vaccinating against tetanus and hepatitis A. Everyone found a way to help.” 

Solder saw that spirit, too, not just among her colleagues but in the community. She recalled businesses opening their doors to panicked families separated from their children at summer camps, and green ribbons sprouting across town to honor Camp Mystic, which lost campers and its beloved director. She said there’s been a swell of outside help to Kerrville, including 3,000 first responders to provide search and rescue services. Donations have poured in from across the country. And a non-profit organization, Mercy Chefs, is on the ground to help feed first responders and residents, setting up a permanent kitchen for as long as the community needs it. 

“It looks like a war zone,” she said, “but everyone I know is doing something. The outpouring is extraordinary.” 

Even as the tragedy fades from the headlines, the recovery in Kerrville continues, Real said. “People are rebuilding their homes. We have electricians and plumbers in the community who are giving their time outside of their regular jobs to help get people’s homes back to safe dwelling spaces. We have churches in the community who are paying out of pocket for people who aren’t even members of their own church to rebuild their homes as well.” 

“Kerrville is not falling to pieces,” she added. “We’re still rebuilding. And we’re not going anywhere.”