Posted on 10/15/2014 6:40:39 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
DALLAS — A Liberian Ebola patient was left in an open area of a Dallas emergency room for hours, and the nurses treating him worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols, according to a statement released late Tuesday by the largest U.S. nurses’ union.
Nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, said Deborah Burger of National Nurses United.
Burger convened a conference call with reporters to relay what she said were concerns of nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Thomas Eric Duncan — the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. — died last week.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses United, said the statement came from “several” and “a few” nurses, but she refused repeated inquiries to state how many. She said the organization had vetted the claims, and that the nurses cited were in a position to know what had occurred at the hospital. She refused to elaborate.
Among the nurses’ allegations was that the Ebola patient’s lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital’s pneumatic tubes, opening the possibility of contaminating the specimen delivery system. The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Sandy Burglar is now a nurse?.................
I just heard this onCNN . It was unbelievable and scary,
Seven other patients were in the area.
The Ebola blood samples were sent in the hospital tube system.
This one idiot we let in the U.S. due to PC stupidity is going to kill dozens before this is over.
And that’s just one of them.
SHUT THE BORDERS! STOP PLANES FROM THE HOT ZONE!
Well there’s your breach in protocol right there, if this is true.
And, if this is true, some supervisor needs to be strung up by the heels. If alarms were raised and politically suppressed, more is needed.
“Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard”
The startling claims include:
Glove openings were not taped shut on protective suits, exposing wrists and hands to exposure
Protective clothing did not cover necks, exposing skin between the collar and the bottom of the face shield
To cover their necks, nurses were told to use tape that does not block the virus
Some supervisors told nurses that face masks were not required at all when caring for Duncan
Duncan was not isolated immediately when he was finally admitted to the hospital with Ebola symptoms and was left for several hours in a hospital ward with other patients nearby
A nursing supervisor faced resistance from hospital chiefs when nurses demanded Duncan be isolated
Nurses treating Duncan were also caring for other patients in the hospital
Patients who may have been exposed to Duncan were kept in isolation only for a day before being moved to areas with other patients
“...left in an open area ...”
means that they DO NOT KNOW how many were exposed.
It also means they lied to America about it,
and it means that the CDC/Obola did not care
.... except to increase the likelihood of spread.
3 confirmed cases in Dallas.
Over 70 Healthcare workers known to be exposed...
This is madness.
Dear God I’m speechless.
Look for a bigger increase in cases here than expected.
A man walks into the ER. He’s running a fever, claims he hasn’t been to W. Africa. He may sit there for a while depending on the severity of the patients in front of him.
He goes to triage, is suspected of having Ebola. Admits his girlfriend did in contact with possible ebola carrier.
Hasn’t he already contaminated the ER waiting room, triage area, possibly a litter, instruments, etc ??
This is just stupidity. This hospital, like every hospital, treats thousands of people every year, with a vast number of problems, some emergent, but most chronic or just annoying.
By sheer luck they get *one* patient, who unlike the gazillion other people with identical, flu-like symptoms, happens to have a deadly, contagious disease, though far LESS deadly than influenza.
Should they greet every patient who *might* have the flu while wearing a HAZMAT suit? Oh, heck no. That would be stupid. But each and every flu season, from a few thousand to over 50,000 Americans DIE of the flu.
Life is a numbers game. This is nothing more than a media generated panic.
What would you rather have? The flu or Ebola?
Your post reminds me of a word.....
Very few I would guess.
http://www.krtv.com/news/missoula-hospital-equipped-to-care-for-ebola-patients/
Sep 30, 2014 8:55 PM by Robbie Reynold - Missoula
Missoula hospital equipped to care for Ebola patients
MISSOULA — There are only four cities in the United States that have special facilities for handling patients with the Ebola virus: Bethesda, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; Omaha, Nebraska; and Saint Patrick Hospital in Missoula.
Saint Patrick has a specially-equipped biocontainment wing called the Care & Isolation Unit, and it helps care for patients with any kind of infectious disease, from measles to tuberculosis to Ebola.
Clinical nurse manager Kate Hurley recently got back from a trip to Sierra Leone in Africa, where she helped care for patients with the Ebola virus.
“The nice thing about that trip is we were actually able to work with these patients with our feet on the ground and really see how you really care for these patients in a high-stress, critical environment,” Hurley said.
This special unit has been operating since 2007, working in conjunction with Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton. The rooms have special equipment and ventilation systems for patients that have an infectious disease.
Tammy Powers, certified infection prevention coordinator, explained, “They have the anteroom and the patient care room that are all negative pressure. They’re HEPA-filtered and vented to the outside. Much of the infection control in this room is redundant so there’s backups.”
Hospital staff also get unique training.
Nurse Nicole Marks went through a training drill in the Care & Isolation Unit, which included suiting up for protection, along with properly entering and exiting the rooms.
Saint Patrick employees are happy that they’re prepared for whatever infectious disease may come their way.
“We never know when the next infectious disease will be emerging,” Powers said. “As we’ve seen with SARS and MERS, and now with Ebola, they’re just an airplane ride away.”
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