Wash. Hospital Conducts Ebola Simulation at New Special Pathogens Unit

Spokane, Wash. - Sacred Heart Medical Center was the hospital selected for the Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho region to receive a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build a new special pathogens unit. Hospital staff can care for two Ebola patients or up to 10 patients with other highly infectious diseases. Paramedics wore waterproof suits with respirators as they unloaded a patient at the Sacred Heart Medical Center parking garage Wednesday morning. The back of the ambulance had been covered in plastic from floor to ceiling, and the patient was zipped into a plastic isolation tube designed to limit the spread of infectious diseases. Firefighters and police officers stood by as paramedics wheeled the stretcher inside. The crowded hospital parking garage was part of a citywide drill to simulate transporting a patient with Ebola from Spokane International Airport to the hospital's new special pathogens unit, which is equipped to care for patients with highly infectious diseases. Intensive care unit nurse Nancy Lowrey, who is one of the nurses trained to work on the special pathogens team, volunteered to be a patient. Her coworkers admitted her into the unit and practiced caring for her, drawing a blood sample and transporting it into the unit's special locked lab. Sacred Heart was the hospital selected for the Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho region and received a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human S...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Training News Source Type: news