EBOLA: A Central Illinois physician’s view on the “official” preparations at local hospital

We received this from a physician who is also a Guns Save Life member.  He works in a major hospital in Central Illinois and shares with us how his hospital is preparing for their first ebola patient.

With all of the news of the Centers for Disease Control trying to manipulate information about ebola and its communicability, for the average person it’s difficult at best to know the facts about the deadly virus.

We stand by our earlier reports about ebola, and preparations prudent individuals will complete to ready themselves and their families for when this outbreak expands to a city near you.  You owe it to yourself to read these posts if you haven’t already.

EBOLA: Obama downplays danger from a highly infectious disease UPDATED

EBOLA PREP: It’s coming. Have you started to prepare?

Understanding the risks of Ebola

Ebola, a nurse’s perspective

 

My hospital is actively working on ebola preparations. I am not directly involved in this effort. However, I receive regular updates. Guidelines and information seem to be changing every few days, so don’t stop paying attention to this.

The CDC is now telling health care providers no exposed skin. They are also recommending a trained observer watch/monitor every health care worker as they put on or take off protective gear to make sure there is no breach of protocol. They are also telling us to “double glove” and to handle ebola infected material using tongs whenever possible – minimizing contact with gloves and your protective gear.

The big problem with protective gear is avoiding contaminating yourself when you remove it. At present, there are 2-3 recommendations for how to decontaminate things. U Nebraska is using bleach wipes. CDC has an example training video using alcohol hand cleanser. CDC documents recommend disinfecting agents such as CaviCide with, “proven effectiveness against enveloped viruses”.

My hospital now has exactly one set of protective gear designated for ebola. They are assembling an “ebola cabinet” which is apparently on wheels and can be brought out if/when an ebola patient shows up. A small subset of physicians and nurses are now undergoing specific training to care for ebola patients. They are getting a second set of protective gear in the next few days. I have not seen this gear. I’m guessing this consists of a bio-suit and a PAPR (Powered Air Purifying Respirator). A PAPR is basically a battery operated backpack with a fan pulling air through a couple of CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) filters. PAPRs typically cost $1-2K and feed purified, pressurized air into a mask or hood to protect the user. Again, I have not seen this gear – so I’m only guessing.

Things are evolving rapidly. However, it seems like they are getting many hospitals ready for ebola.

Gas masks and bio-protective equipment are outrageously expensive. Hospitals and government workers have the luxury of using expensive throw-away gowns. Civilians don’t have the resources for that.

I’ve been looking at inexpensive gear used by hazardous waste techs – like Tyvek suits, etc. Some of this may prove to be useful. In some 3rd world countries, they are using plastic suits and gloves with wellies and duct tape.

There are lots of cheap gas masks anf filters out there. But, you need to be careful, as many have been shown to be defective. They are sold cheap because they do not work.

Also, mask filters have some fairly exotic chemicals in them to stop nerve agents and radioactive substances. Once past the expiration date, some of these filters may give off dangerous fumes or dust when used. One canister I heard of gives off Chromium dust after its expiration date – trust me, you do not want to inhale that stuff.

From what I’ve seen so far, MSA seems to make the mask of choice (used by our troops and law enforcement). However, their top of the line mask (the millenium) is $400-600 each. Filters run $30-70 each. Once you use it, you need to decontaminate it and replace the filter before reusing.

Editor:  If you recognize the hospital in the photo, it may or may not be the hospital our contributor is from.  Don’t assume it’s the same place.