Around 40 emergency leaders from St. Joseph and the surrounding community met this morning at the Remington Nature Center to address an emergency response plan in the event that a potential case of Ebola were to present itself in the community.

The St. Joseph Health Department held the meeting this morning with members in attendance from local health care providers, educators, law enforcement, ambulance and emergency medical response and related representatives to review plans and discuss specific response measures to the threat of Ebola.

St. Joseph Health Department Epidemiologist Ron Tolen said it’s important to make sure everyone who would respond to this situation know what their roles would be and how to follow procedures.

“The likelihood of an Ebola patient coming here is pretty slim,” said Tolen. “We want to take it seriously but not be overly fearful.”

Tolen said emergency leaders work together to respond to a number of different situations.  He said there have been other viruses that leaders have had to plan to respond to in the past including scenarios like H1N1, and the threat of Smallpox.

“All of the outbreaks up to this year have not had near the duration nor the number of cases that this current outbreak does,” said Tolen. “We’re just making sure we know what our role is in the event of a case in the community.”

Because the Health Department does not treat patients Tolen said he does not expect to treat an individual directly, but that the Health Department’s role would include monitoring and checking in on individuals who may have come in contact with a confirmed case of the virus.

“We may be dealing with follow up trying to locate contacts,” said Tolen. “If someone was possibly exposed we would be following up.”

According to a Press Release from the St. Joseph Health Department this morning’s closed meeting included an explanation of the history of the Ebola Virus and how it is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids.  The Health Department said it will continue to work with all public health emergency coordination to make sure planning stays current and is in accordance with State and federal emergency management planning to ensure the community is prepared.