One Medicine: Celebrating The Anniversary Of Texas A&M’s Surge Hospital

Story by VMBS Marketing & Communications

September 22, 2025

This special edition article recognizes the 20^th anniversary of Hurricane Rita and the Texas A&M Large Animal Teaching Hospital’s role as a surge hospital — and the part it played in establishing the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ legacy of supporting people and animals impacted by disasters. It is an updated version of an article previously shared in the Winter 2005 edition of CVM Today magazine.

Human lives and buildings were transformed at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) during six days in September 2005 when everyone in College Station prepared for the wrath of an unwanted and dangerous visitor named Hurricane Rita.

Faculty, staff, and students at the VMBS did not cower in fear, however — they stood together to help those in need by turning the Large Animal Teaching Hospital into a “surge hospital” facility that cared for human patients instead of animals.

“There was a big call for volunteers and a bunch of us stepped up — technicians, students, and faculty from all departments,” said Dr. Sharon Kerwin, the current head of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences who was a faculty member and volunteer at the time.

“It was cool to see our community pull together; it was a real lesson in teamwork,” she said. “I remember looking a couple rows over and watching Dr. Allen Roussel, one of our former faculty members, take care of this elderly woman like she was his own mother. People were so compassionate.”

Dr. Jared Janke, a clinical associate professor of equine internal medicine who was a veterinary resident at the time, also remembers how well Aggies displayed compassion and selfless service during the experience.

“A large charter bus arrived filled mostly with non-ambulatory nursing home patients and two nurses. We thought, ‘How do we get all these folks off that bus?’ But there was no need for fear — the football coach sent the football team to help,” Janke recalled. “Those Aggie athletes carried each patient off the bus and settled them into the hospital.”

The experience was also special for Kerwin because it gave her the opportunity to work side-by-side with her parents, who both had careers in human healthcare.

“My mom is a retired nurse who ran a nursing home for a number of years and my dad is a physician, so I got them to come up and coach me on basic nursing care. My dad also came in and worked with me on several shifts,” Kerwin said. 

“One of my favorite memories is working with one of the patients, an older man who didn’t want to talk to anybody or take his meds; he was really combative,” she said. “I remember my dad going over and just sitting down with this guy and talking to him. The next thing I know, he was taking his meds and behaving himself. It was fun for me to see my dad’s expertise in managing patients.”

The surge hospital incident also inspired the college’s new service mission to be a resource for animals and people before, during, and after disasters.

“Since then, we have really developed our emergency capacities, and I’m super proud of the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team and what they do,” Kerwin said. “We’ve never done another surge hospital, but when we focus on caring for pets and livestock, that impacts people as well.” 

Turning Ideas Into Action

When Texas A&M was asked by the Brazos County Health Department and the Texas State Health Department to convert the large animal facility to care for several hundred “special needs” patients from Houston and Galveston, the concept was not a new one to the college, according to H. Richard Adams, former dean of the VMBS.

In fact, a few months before Rita, retired Lt. Gen. Paul Carlton, MD, former surgeon general of the U.S. Air Force and member of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health), partnered with retired Marine Col. Chuck Vrooman, former VMBS assistant dean for finance, to start working on a model for how the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) could possibly be converted into a human “special needs” hospital in case a disaster were to overwhelm the capacity of regional hospitals.

“The model was still conceptual but had been presented to the VMBS Executive Committee and authorized for continued development. Plans were for the model to be submitted to the Texas A&M provost and president for approval and then presented to the Board of Regents,” Adams explained. “It was a concept, frankly, we thought and hoped would never be needed. And then came Rita.”

The surge concept, an ideal blending of human medicine and veterinary medicine into a “one medicine” hospital, was adopted immediately to help patients evacuated from Galveston and other coastal communities. Assistance soon followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Public Health Service, U.S. Army, Federal Emergency Management Services, and others, including local human hospital staff members and physicians.

The hospital was emptied of animals, sanitized, and converted to human use in less than a day thanks to the extraordinary efforts of many people. By the evening before the hurricane was due to make landfall, the facility housed approximately 350 patients, including a number of badly burned children from Shriners Hospital in Galveston, those from nursing homes, and children with physical disabilities, as well as an additional 300 family members and caregivers.

A Team Effort

Carlton, Vrooman, and Dr. Bill Moyer, former head of the Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department, worked side-by-side to handle all aspects of patient care, logistical details, and medical support team coordination.

The teamwork that developed among the diverse health care professionals was truly impressive. Medical personnel, veterinarians, nurses, veterinary students, and staff joined together to provide the best in patient care, under the supervision of physicians.

In addition to the enormous medical demands, there were the seemingly endless tasks of unloading huge trucks packed with hospital supplies, feeding hundreds of people daily, ensuring that safety and security issues were handled properly, processing laundry for the masses, and maintaining accurate patient medical records.

“Accolades go to virtually all of Bill’s departmental faculty and staff who spent countless hours caring for our new two-legged patients,” Adams said. “It was truly a unique event in the history of the VMBS and possibly among all other colleges of veterinary medicine around the country.”

Senior staff members at the VMBS and many others worked tirelessly to coordinate people and tasks in their new roles in the surge hospital. Texas A&M College of Medicine former dean Dr. Chris Colenda, along with Texas A&M Health former president Dr. Nancy Dickey, were lockstep involved in this new role for the VMTH. Dickey donned her medical scrubs and spent the whole first night caring for patients.

“Probably the first physician to spend the night in an animal hospital in many years,” Adams said. “Dean Colenda likewise did a splendid job, jumping right into the middle of this new responsibility for Aggieland.”

Compassionate Care

A whole range of emotions filtered through the towering hallways of the Large Animal Teaching Hospital those six days in September — from sorrow and joy to courage and hope. A gentler side of those sometimes “tough” exteriors were exposed as veterinarians worked diligently to care for their weak, injured, and elderly patients. 

Faculty members used their special talents — like accomplished harpist Dr. Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, former head of the VMBS Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences — to entertain and soothe patients’ fears, especially those of the post-burn recovery children. Castiglioni’s music was so well-received by the burn patients that Shriners Hospital began working with her to develop a harp music therapy program at the hospital.

Unquestionably, the varied talents and team spirit of all the Aggie volunteers — faculty, staff, and students — who responded to Rita’s potential wrath created a seamless blending of human and animal medicine that resulted in a truly unique and highly successful “one medicine” hospital.

“Texas A&M showed its core values within that crisis,” Janke said. “Professionals trained to care for livestock, not people, rose to the challenge with extraordinary courage and adaptability. Their willingness to set aside familiar boundaries and apply their medical knowledge in an unfamiliar context exemplified compassion, resilience, and the unwavering commitment of veterinary medicine to serve the greater community in times of crisis. 

“This moment of service reflected the core values of Texas A&M — respect, excellence, loyalty, leadership, integrity, and selfless service — demonstrating that even in the most unexpected circumstances, Aggies stand ready to serve,” he said. “In that moment, I realized how much I could learn from this extraordinary team of humans — not just about medicine, but about what it means to serve with heart, courage, and conviction.”

Lasting Impacts

Following the experience, the VMBS took a new interest in disaster preparedness and response; leadership created the first collegewide disaster committee, developed the VMBS’ first disaster plans, and, four years later, established the Veterinary Emergency Team (VET), the most-deployed veterinary medical emergency team in the country.

“The leadership of Dr. Moyer in the surge hospital and the formation of the VMBS disaster preparedness committee set the stage for the formation of the VET,” said Dr. Deb Zoran, current VET director. “Several people on the committee became founding members, and Dr. Moyer was instrumental in assuring that it could have an initial home in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and that Dr. Wesley Bissett could serve as its first director.”

Today, Zoran leads the team as it continues supporting Texans through disaster response, helping local communities prepare for disasters, and training veterinary students in emergency preparedness and response. With over 29 deployments and nearly 6,000 animals assisted since its formation, the VET exemplifies the spirit of service and commitment that defines Aggieland.

“The surge hospital was a classic Aggie experience — people stepped up and did what needed to be done to help others,” Zoran said. “It was an amazing — and terrifying, because taking care of elderly humans is very different — experience, and it also reminded all of us of the importance of preparing for disasters in all aspects.”

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For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216

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