I do not know what happened inside Presbyterian Hospital …
but I think, sadly, Presbyterian and potentially other hospitals across the country is suffering badly for the missteps of the CDC.
The ebola threat has been top of mind at the CDC for months now. They knew there was a possibility that someone in the U.S. would contract the disease. And yet, every day they come off as more and more unprepared.
It now looks as if everyone is making this up as they go.
I hope that ebola is not the health threat everyone fears it is; that despite it’s high fatality rate, it is somewhat easily contained.
But in order to do that there has to be a plan. In order not to have panic, which is destructive in ways beyond the health crisis, there has to be a plan.
The CDC asks us to trust their admonitions about how Ebola is spread and advice about how to protect ourselves and our families.
But with every misstep they undercut our ability to do that.
For all our sakes I hope they can remedy that quickly.
I’m sure Presbyterian Hospital has made many errors along the way here. I am not letting them off the hook for mistakes made, but I honestly feel sorry for the doctors and staff there. I’m pretty sure they are trying their level best. Bottom line, the CDC’s preparation appears to have been at best inadequate, at worst, abysmal.
What are your thoughts on this? Please tell me, I’m interested.
Where is the Surgeon General? Even checking their tweets it’s not even much of a topic. Isn’t this a national issue?!?!
I believe the CDC is helpless or maybe hapless. There has to be volumes they aren’t sharing in turn creating panic. Why wasn’t a team sent here immediately when the first case showed up? Why aren’t at risk hospitals equipped properly? Why are we blaming the nursing staff who aren’t trained in these protocols and aren’t given proper protection? Why aren’t we fast-tracking a vaccine? Why aren’t we stopping flights from West Africa? So many questions and our government is out to lunch…or more likely is on the golf course.
My heart goes out to those infected. They’ve put their lives at risk for what!?
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Jamie. Creating panic is a bad thing and unfortunately that is what inept handling usually produces. People need to be able to trust the government. That is what’s so concerning here. Thanks again, Jane
I work in this ER. We are all heartsick and doing everything possible to keep our spirits up. Our nurses are amazing and used the protocol that was in place. These are uncharted waters and we just happened to be “ground zero.” We need your prayers, your encouragement and your praise to boost our morale. We continue to show up every day! Thank you Jane for your kind remarks
Thank you so much for commenting and believe me my thoughts, prayers and encouragement are with you. People appreciate what you are doing.
I am proud that we have so many committed local healthcare professionals trying their best to care for the infected and help contain the contagion. I am disgusted with the national government’s half-hearted, disingenuous responses to this problem. We should have restricted travel to and from west Africa except for aid workers headed there, and implemented a quarantine program for American citizens travelling back from there many months ago. This failure is a national scandal.
Sadly, I agree with a lot of what you said Dan. Hopefully it will get better.
We have not had a Surgeon General for over a year, Jaime. Our president appointed Dr. Vivek H. Murthy last November. But Senate Republicans have blocked his nomination thanks to threats by the National Rifle Association. You see, Dr. Murthy thinks guns are dangerous to the health of American citizens and has had the gall to say so. Around 30,000 people die from gunshot wounds every year in the U.S. Pretty silly of a person nominated to protect the public health to comment on such a thing, right?
Thanks for your comment and I appreciate your thoughts but I still think that the CDC and this threat are large enough that it should not have been hijacked by something political, on either side.
That’s not exactly true. While the person handling those duties may not be the permanent Surgeon General, we do in fact have a Surgeon General with significant experience. His name is Rear Admiral (RADM) Boris D. Lushniak, M.D., M.P.H.
It is my belief that the initial response failed due to the “it can’t/isn’t/won’t happen here” syndrome. People have to understand that they ARE the other guy.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Christie. Unfortunately you may be right.
Just another example of the complete incompetence of our government. Not 10 years ago Health & Human Service Dept created a branch to deal directly with these types of threats. The leader of that office, Dr. Nicole Lurie was caught up in a scandal for funneling a major amount of funding to a company of a Democratic donor instead of the company that was developing the vaccine that is now being used to treat Ebola. In 2004, the Project Bioshield Act was passed by Congress to deal with threats of this nature. The budget for National Institute of Health increased 58% between 2000 & 2004 and has continued to be renewed. All partisans want to talk about now, is funding was cut. Another lie as Congress approved $6.9 billion for the CDC when Obama administration only asked for $6.6 billion. This is nothing more than our government completing failing to protect the American people. Now they use the logic that stopping flights from the country importing this disease to us, won’t help us. Huh??? Complete incompetence.
Thanks for the comment Marty. Unfortunately this is a sad and perhaps preventable situation.
Ebola was discovered almost 40 years ago and there are multiple strains. I am a healthcare provider in an ER. We are so not prepared at all for this. And mark my word…this virus is airborne now. All viruses are, even herpes. Respiratory therapists get herpes simplex cold sore viruses at a very high rate because they give aerosol treatments. Has the government ever been upfront and honest about anything? When you see those healthcare workers garbed in layers of “protective” wear, contracting Ebola, it will not be easily contained. We are a mobile society. It will spread despite our earnest efforts. We also need to think about biological warfare here. And pray for a treatment. There are no viruses that can be cured, only controlled. Lots to think about. My #1 thought is….retire now!
Davis will blame Abbott. Obama will blame Bush for where the plan?
Unfortunately, somewhat true. Thank you Jerry.
Thank you Karen. I hope and pray that this is not nearly the threat it appears it could be.
I would like to say, thank you Presbyterian hospital for even concidering an Ebola patient.
Jane, the way I look at this…
It’s kinda like building a new house.
You do this and that to it…
You hire this person and that person…
You decorate it… Etc., etc.
In the end, does one say, ahhhhhhh
or do we sit back and condemn every thing about it?
These doctors and nurses representing
Presbyterian hospital did their best with what knowledge they had… So who is to condemn these new (builders)
When I was 16 my neighbor buddy 16 died of open heart surgey…
That was in the early 60’s…
Who do we blame?
Ps. who should we blame for all the cancer patients who don’t recover?
In the old Bible days, if you had leopardcy, you had to where a vail and stand on the outside of the camp and cry leopard…
Should an ebola…. Do the same?
Would someone cry for the Presbyterian staff.
Mike, thanks so much for the thoughtful comments. I’m pretty sure the people at Presbyterian are trying their best.
In summary, we (the “big we” – all of us, citizens, health care professionals, patient, and particularly politicians) need to concentrate on getting the procedures right rather than pointing fingers of blame. Whatever we learn here, imported or domestic, can be used worldwide.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment!!!
Thanks for the input Elizabeth Kay, I enjoyed reading what you had to say. Have a great Thursday!
Does anyone know where their passing out ‘BRAINS’
I would like to send a box of them to Washington!
Have a great day all!
Its a Big Mess, I feel sad that Mr. Duncan had to die from this disease,while others got and or getting treatment all because he had no insurance… Hopefully The Medical World will learn from this and be more prepared….. God Bless everyone that is affected by Ebola and lets get this disease under control!
It is all sad Sandy.
More and more we are hearing that the CDC guidelines for protective gear for nurses, doctors and hospital workers are inadequate.
It appears that the hospitals, like Presbyterian, do not have the proper equipment. The protective gear complying with CDC guidelines looks totally different from what aid workers are using in Africa. I think at the very onset, this was not treated with the seriousness it deserved. This is extremely unfortunate. One person has died, but moving forward, we have to do better. I heard one doctor say that ebola was not a forgiving virus. Obviously, it will kill you, and one small mistake can take your life. Instead of having a House of Representatives panel grilling all these heads of hospitals, CDC, etc., trying to point a finger and blame this or that, wouldn’t their time be better spent in making sure, by site inspection, that the hospitals have the proper protective gear and really, actually knew what to do if a person comes to an ER with ebola and are actually giving demonstrations of what to do and how to do it.
Thanks for the thoughts Linda, pretty much agree with everything you said!