While Ebola is no longer dominating the headlines, ongoing training and preparations ensure we remain ready to handle highly infectious diseases.
In the months since the Ebola concern, Texas Children’s has stock piled personal protective equipment (PPE) and, most recently, acquired 30 powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs). A PAPR covers the head to protect emergency responders from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents. This addition to our PPE inventory helps ensure the safety of our health care professionals when they are treating patients with highly infectious diseases.
“We were well-prepared before, and we’re even better prepared now,” said Dr. Judith Campbell, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control. “We’ve always been in compliance with the CDC. Now we have the benefit of having visited both Nebraska and Emory where patients with highly contagious infectious diseases are frequently cared for, giving us an added level of knowledge.”
The infectious disease leadership team recently observed a PPE donning and doffing exercise used to successfully contain the disease at Emory Healthcare and Nebraska Medicine. The team also received a tour of their special isolation units (SIU).
The visits to Emory and Nebraska also helped in the design of Texas Children’s first special isolation unit. The unit is designed to care for a broader range of infectious diseases. Campbell said the unit and a special response team will be dedicated to caring for patients with highly contagious infectious diseases.
“When we talk about the SIU, it really is with the intent of taking care of any unusual infectious disease that’s highly contagious,” Campbell said. “There are a lot of infectious diseases emerging. Given we are a global society, it’s certainly possible that there may be another pathogen that could have the kind of impact that Ebola has had.”
Texas Children’s leaders have worked with health care facilities across the country and with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to share best practices that will continue to prepare us for the possibility of receiving a patient with highly contagious infectious diseases, such as Ebola. The organization continues to monitor the situation with information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We’re confident that, in many aspects, our preparation exceeds that of most other hospitals,” Campbell said. “We want to make sure we have the highest level of protection for our health care professionals.”