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http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/loca...0/akron-hospitals-prepare-for-ebola/17645651/
These folks have their heads on straight.
Thirty nurses and two doctors have volunteered to be the staff to provide care if one arrives
Ebola preparation
(Photo: WKYC-TV)
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AKRON -- Summa Health System's Akron City Hospital has been drilling for days to prepare for a possible case of Ebola.
Thirty nurses and two doctors have volunteered to be the staff to provide care if one arrives.
Nurses Kylene Mesaros and Linda Kremer are two of the volunteers. Mesaros says she feels confident the hospital has given her proper tools and training to provide quality care and keep herself safe in the process.
RELATED: Summit County sets transport plans in Ebola response
Kremer has 37 years on the job and volunteered so the younger nurses with small children would not have to be away for a 21 day quarantine if one was warranted.
Summa set up a plan that six nurses would work 72-hour shifts to care for a patient and then be relieved by another six. This way a minimum amount of people would be exposed to a patient.
The nurses would be also required to clean and disinfect the patient room after they left the hospital.
RELATED: Amber Vinson's family releases updated statement
"I've done this 20 or 30 times," Messaro says about training to put on her personal protective equipment, or PPE. The gear covers every area of exposed skin and a hood is worn with a personal respirator so the healthcare worker can breathe clean air.
They would be working with the patient for four hours at a time.
Outside the isolation room, another nurse would be watching the team on a video monitor. She would be able to communicate with them via a speaker in the room. The point is to make sure no one breaks protocol.
The isolation room is cordoned off with heavy duty plastic barriers from floor to ceiling. The nurses have a "clean" room in which to put on their equipment and a "containment" room to take off contaminated gear. Everything is done using the buddy system and in a step-by-step manner.
RELATED: Lawmakers to feds: Step up Ebola response in Ohio
The directions are clearly posted on the walls. Taking off the gear is when the healthcare worker is most at risk for infection.
The Summit County Health Department is in contact with those who had direct contact with Amber Vinson.
The Dallas nurse who flew to Cleveland before knowing she had the disease.
In the event one of those people being monitored develops symptoms, they would contact the Health Department, which would then contact the closest hospital. Both Summa and Akron General Medical Center have been preparing.
In case the person requires an ambulance, Akron Fire Department has outfitted a special squad to take them to the hospital.
If they go to Akron City Hospital by ambulance, they would first go into the decontamination room. There the staff can put on their protective equipment and stabilize the patient before taking them to the isolation unit.
If the patient comes to the Emergency Department on their own, they would immediately go into a Negative Pressure Isolation Room, also cordoned off with plastic sheeting. A room is connected that would serve as the healthcare worker's PPE space to put on and take off gear.
Blood samples would be collected and then taken to the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus either by the Ohio National Guard or the Ohio State Highway Patrol in a special biohazard container. Lab results could come as early as 12 hours later.
The hospital has designated a route to transport the patient to the isolation unit that avoids public areas. A cleaning staff would follow behind disinfecting as they go. The elevator used would be taken out of service and disinfected.
"We have been drilling basically every day, including unannounced full simulation drills where nobody knows that the patient is not a real patient so with every drill that we do we modify our process," says Dr. Scott Wilber head of Emergency Medicine at Akron City Hospital.
These folks have their heads on straight.
Thirty nurses and two doctors have volunteered to be the staff to provide care if one arrives
Ebola preparation
(Photo: WKYC-TV)
CONNECT
TWEET
COMMENT
MORE
AKRON -- Summa Health System's Akron City Hospital has been drilling for days to prepare for a possible case of Ebola.
Thirty nurses and two doctors have volunteered to be the staff to provide care if one arrives.
Nurses Kylene Mesaros and Linda Kremer are two of the volunteers. Mesaros says she feels confident the hospital has given her proper tools and training to provide quality care and keep herself safe in the process.
RELATED: Summit County sets transport plans in Ebola response
Kremer has 37 years on the job and volunteered so the younger nurses with small children would not have to be away for a 21 day quarantine if one was warranted.
Summa set up a plan that six nurses would work 72-hour shifts to care for a patient and then be relieved by another six. This way a minimum amount of people would be exposed to a patient.
The nurses would be also required to clean and disinfect the patient room after they left the hospital.
RELATED: Amber Vinson's family releases updated statement
"I've done this 20 or 30 times," Messaro says about training to put on her personal protective equipment, or PPE. The gear covers every area of exposed skin and a hood is worn with a personal respirator so the healthcare worker can breathe clean air.
They would be working with the patient for four hours at a time.
Outside the isolation room, another nurse would be watching the team on a video monitor. She would be able to communicate with them via a speaker in the room. The point is to make sure no one breaks protocol.
The isolation room is cordoned off with heavy duty plastic barriers from floor to ceiling. The nurses have a "clean" room in which to put on their equipment and a "containment" room to take off contaminated gear. Everything is done using the buddy system and in a step-by-step manner.
RELATED: Lawmakers to feds: Step up Ebola response in Ohio
The directions are clearly posted on the walls. Taking off the gear is when the healthcare worker is most at risk for infection.
The Summit County Health Department is in contact with those who had direct contact with Amber Vinson.
The Dallas nurse who flew to Cleveland before knowing she had the disease.
In the event one of those people being monitored develops symptoms, they would contact the Health Department, which would then contact the closest hospital. Both Summa and Akron General Medical Center have been preparing.
In case the person requires an ambulance, Akron Fire Department has outfitted a special squad to take them to the hospital.
If they go to Akron City Hospital by ambulance, they would first go into the decontamination room. There the staff can put on their protective equipment and stabilize the patient before taking them to the isolation unit.
If the patient comes to the Emergency Department on their own, they would immediately go into a Negative Pressure Isolation Room, also cordoned off with plastic sheeting. A room is connected that would serve as the healthcare worker's PPE space to put on and take off gear.
Blood samples would be collected and then taken to the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus either by the Ohio National Guard or the Ohio State Highway Patrol in a special biohazard container. Lab results could come as early as 12 hours later.
The hospital has designated a route to transport the patient to the isolation unit that avoids public areas. A cleaning staff would follow behind disinfecting as they go. The elevator used would be taken out of service and disinfected.
"We have been drilling basically every day, including unannounced full simulation drills where nobody knows that the patient is not a real patient so with every drill that we do we modify our process," says Dr. Scott Wilber head of Emergency Medicine at Akron City Hospital.
