Is
New York Ready to Deal With Ebola?
(Reprinted from Long
Island Press, October 15, 2014)
With a Dallas hospital’s safety
protocols under intense scrutiny for its handling of a now-deceased Ebola
patient’s treatment, lawmakers are calling on New York State health officials
to immediately develop a comprehensive plan for the deadly virus.
The state Senate health committee is
planning to hold hearings on whether the health care system is prepared for
Ebola. Lawmakers also urged the state Department of Health to assess its preparedness
and issue a report on its findings within a month. Upon receiving suggestions,
members of the state Senate and Assembly would then determine how much money to
allocate for the state’s response.
“The recent events in Dallas have called
into question the extent to whether a health care system that is supposed to be
prepared to handle an individual can actually handle that individual,” state
Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), chair of the senate health committee, said
Wednesday during a news conference at Nassau University Medical Center. He said
his biggest concern is a lack of publicly available information regarding the
state’s preparedness. Hannon is seeking public assurances that a detailed plan
is in place even though likelihood the disease being widespread in New York is
“slim,” he said.
Among the issues they would like to see
studied is whether a single New York hospital can be federally designated as a
biohazard location with a special isolation unit capable of treating such
infectious diseases as Ebola. Currently, there are only four in the country;
the closest is in Bethesda, Md.
State Senate co-leader Dean Skelos
(R-Rockville Centre) said hearings would help determine whether the state is
“truly prepared” to detect and treat potential Ebola patients. Unclear is how
many people would make up the committee, when hearings would begin and how much
it would cost to implement recommendations.
Hannon suggested that any funds
allocated to the state’s response should come out of the billions the state has
received from major settlements with financial institutions such as the $16.5
billion deal with Bank of America, of which $800 million was allocated to New
York.
Also of interest is if state health
officials have conducted a case-by-case review of each emergency room, hospital
and clinic in the state.
“Is there a checklist?” Hannon asked
rhetorically.
The senator expressed disappointment
that upon scrutinizing the state health department’s website for a step-by-step
protocol on infectious diseases, he was diverted to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention website. He contrasted this with the World Health
Organization’s site which he said contained a “detailed list of what needs to
be done in terms of prevention and treatment.”
The state health department said in a
statement through a spokesperson that it’s working with federal and local
partners to “ensure that New York is prepared to care for a patient with Ebola
should the need arise, and that health care providers and the public alike are
protected.”
“DOH continues to work with and provide
guidance to hospitals as they identify and train staff who would care for
patients; identify areas in the hospital where patients would be cared for;
provide staff with personal protective equipment (PPE) and conduct ongoing
training in its use; conduct drills and exercises to ensure that health care
workers do not contaminate themselves and that they correctly don and remove
PPE,” the statement continued. “Hospitals currently have supplies of personal
protective equipment and DOH has additional stockpiles to dispatch to hospitals
if needed.”
Treating the virus and preventing
others—especially first responders and health care workers—from becoming
infected has become a priority across the country.
The Dallas hospital that treated Thomas
Eric Duncan, who lost his battle to the disease last week, has been criticized
for allowing Duncan to leave following his initial visit to the hospital, and
its handling of his case afterward. Two nurses who helped treat Duncan have
tested positive for the virus. In the most recent case, officials said the
29-year-old nurse who helped treat Duncan was diagnosed one day after traveling
by plane from Ohio to Texas.
One of the largest nurse unions in the
country released a statement on its site alleging that upon Duncan’s second
visit to the hospital that he was left for several hours in an area with other
patients, instead of being isolated.
“No one knew what the protocols were or
were able to verify what kind of personal protective equipment should be worn
and there was no training,” the union, National Nurses United wrote. The union
said the account came from registered nurses familiar with “what occurred at
the hospital.”
“There was no advance preparedness on
what to do with the patient, there was no protocol, there was no system,” the
union alleged. “The nurses were asked to call the Infectious Disease
Department. The Infectious Disease Department did not have clear policies to
provide either.”
Dr. Victor Politi, CEO of NUMC, stressed
during the press conference that the hospital is doing all it can to train its
workers, even going as far as setting up “mock patients” at random hours to see
how the staff reacts.
Politi said he has ordered 100
additional personal protective suits as a precaution. The suits will be placed
throughout the hospital, he said.
Jerry Laricchiuta, president of Nassau’s
Civil Service Employees Association, which represents 3,500 NUMC workers, said
that his members are “nervous.” He also expressed concerned that their
treatment of potential Ebola patients can cause them to be “tomorrow’s
victims.” Still, he noted that they’re “professionals” and are prepared to step
in when needed.
The state’s readiness review would also
include protocols for identification of patient, patient transportation,
isolation, staff allocation, personal protective equipment, clinical
management, environmental cleaning, waste management, burial, laboratory
requirements and other precautions, Hannon said.
Suffolk County also held a meeting
Wednesday with public officials regarding infectious disease protocols.