The Ebola Survival Handbook by Joseph Alton

Author:Joseph Alton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

It apparently wasn’t for several days that protective gear, including shoe coverings, had been mandated for use in Duncan’s care—that apparently there were a number of loose protocols and “recommendations” but very few essential hospital mandates.

Finally, several days into the ordeal, one of the nurses noted: “RN entered room in Tyvek suits, triple gloves, triple boots, and respirator cap in place.” But what about all those days before? What kind of protections and precautions had been in place? The documentation is sparse.

It has been rumored that the staff at the hospital has been threatened with firings for speaking to the press, so it’s hard to know if the public at large will ever know the real truth about how Duncan’s care had been managed or mismanaged.

So who’s at fault?

The medical staff may have committed errors in the donning and doffing of protective gear, if it was given to them in the first place. I have put on and taken off these outfits myself, and believe me when I tell you that there is a learning curve. A wrong move could easily mean contamination. Humans aren’t perfect, and mistakes happen, but I believe in my heart that nurses are heroes and the heart and soul of the field of health care. I have seen what they do day in and day out, and I will admit to you, as a physician, that I couldn’t do it.

The hospital has a burden of blame to bear, as it was clearly unprepared for dealing with the Ebola patient. It didn’t have the equipment, the advanced training, and the policies in place that would have made the unit an effective team. To put it simply, the hospital was in over its head.

The blame falls, therefore, where the buck stops, and that’s at the very top of our medical administration. Our top health officials have told us so often that we have nothing to worry about. We expect that we are up for any challenge because we are told that lie daily. I hoped that the high technology and vast resources in the United States would trump human error, disorganization, and yes, arrogance.

I was wrong. There are, indeed, circumstance for which we are unprepared, and woefully so. Our medical directors at the national level have failed to make us ready for the challenge of a deadly and contagious disease like Ebola. They have put considerations that may be political into an arena that should be apolitical. They have forgotten their duty to preserve the health of US citizens.

Yet, if any nation can rise to the challenge, we can. There are no community-wide Ebola outbreaks here at present, and we can, under strong leadership, become capable of containing the disease in West Africa while protecting home territory. It will take a lot of humanitarian aid and tough, but logical, decision making.

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