Heartland Health is preparing to deal with Ebola.
“It’s a big concern because of the number of cases that continue to evolve in West Africa. It’s also a concern because the mortality rate is so high and there’s no really well proven therapy at this point,” said Heartland Director of Infectious Diseases Dr. Scott Folk.
Officials with the University of Kansas Hospital announced Tuesday afternoon that preliminary tests on a patient who arrived Monday with Ebola-like symptoms does not have the deadly disease. However, doctors in St. Joseph are still preparing for the disease as its spreads in West Africa.
“We are informing our caregivers on a daily basis with updates and also reaffirming to them what the process is when someone comes in with infectious disease type symptoms,” said Heartland Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Davin Turner. “We’ve ramped up our precautions in making sure our caregivers are aware. We started over a week ago.”
Dr. Folk said as the virus increases in West Africa the likelihood of it appearing in the United States and our area locally also increase.
“Over time the chances of people from Africa bringing Ebola virus in the U.S. will continue to increase and as that happens we here in the U.S. need to remain vigilant for any patients who might potentially have infection,” said Dr. Folk.
Folk said Ebola is transmitted through blood and body fluids and that Heartland has the protective gear on hand to deal with a case of Ebola if necessary.
“When you are dealing with a patient that has Ebola virus you need to pay close attention to the way you take off your personal protective equipment so that you don’t accident contaminate or infect yourself,” said Dr. Folk.
Heartland said it also has isolation rooms ready if needed.
“We have multiple isolation rooms throughout the facility,” said Dr. Turner. “These isolation rooms are closed ventilation rooms that contain that air that’s in that room that’s self-ventilated so that any type of air or articulates cannot escape that room.”
Dr. Folk said symptoms of the Ebola virus are fever, headache, achy muscles, and a lot of intestinal issues like nausea or vomiting, and many patients bleed from their intestinal tract.