CNN actually did some real journalism on ebola and public health policy
First, we have a Dallas prosecutor threatening to arrest Thomas Duncan for being sick while black.
Then, poor Nina Pham is being attacked for "a breach of protocol ". Goddamn it, could you be more insulting to our underpaid, overworked nursing staff? These people are real-life heroes!
Perhaps CNN got to a bit closer to the truth and our collective responsibility to make sure our government is motivated by public heath rather than protecting the profit margins of our health care industry.
When I read the steps below, disturbingly obvious, it was with profound sadness that we are so poorly prepared for something like this. In our own lifetimes we may witness a post antibiotic world where infections no longer respond to standard treatment. We are not prepared in the least. Just replace "ebola" with "infectious disease".
We Need to Stop Scapegoating!
If there is blame, it isn't Thomas Duncan or Nina Pham. It is the arrogance of something known as American exceptionalism. It's the same thing that keeps fueling our idiotic wars, drug violence, gun violence, poverty and debt. We lavish all of America's resources on the rich at the expense of the broader good, then blame those least able to defend themselves when the shit hits the fan.
The below is paraphrased from CNN.
Ebola: Five ways the CDC got it wrong
By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent
updated 5:03 PM EDT, Mon October 13, 2014
1. The CDC is telling possible Ebola patients to "call a doctor."
When passengers arrive in the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, they're handed a flier instructing them to "call a doctor" if they feel ill.
We saw how well that worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. On September 25, the hospital sent a feverish Thomas Eric Duncan home even though he had told them he'd recently been to Liberia.
One way to do it differently: Set up a toll free number for returning passengers that would reach a centralized office, which would then dispatch a local ambulance to get the patient to a hospital.
The hospital would be warned that a possible Ebola patient is on the way, and the patient would not be brought through the main emergency room.
That's the idea of Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, an assistant professor at Penn State's Department of Public Health Sciences.
2. The CDC director says any hospital can care for Ebola patients.
"I think it's very unfortunate that he keeps re-stating that," said Macgregor-Skinner, the global projects manager for the Elizabeth R. Griffin Foundation.
He said when it comes to handling Ebola, not all hospitals are created equally. As seen at Presbyterian, using protective gear can be tricky. Plus, it's a challenge to handle infectious waste from Ebola patients, such as hospital gowns contaminated with blood or vomit.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, said some hospitals have more experience with infectious diseases and consistently do drills in how to deal with biohazards.
"If you were a burn unit patient, wouldn't you want to go to a burn unit?" he said.
3. The CDC didn't encourage the "buddy system" for doctors and nurses.
Under this system, a doctor or nurse who is about to do a procedure on an Ebola patient has a "buddy," another health care worker, who acts as a safety supervisor, monitoring the worker from the time he puts on the gear until the time he takes it off.
The "buddy system" has been effective in stopping other kinds of infections in hospitals.
4. CDC didn't encourage doctors to develop Ebola treatment guidelines.
At Sunday's press conference, Frieden hinted that Presbyterian might have performed two measures -- inserting a breathing tube and giving kidney dialysis -- that were unlikely to help Duncan. He described them as a "desperate measure" to save his life.
"Both of those procedures may spread contaminated materials and are considered high-risk procedures," he said. "I'm not familiar with any prior patient with Ebola who has undergone either intubation or dialysis."
Osterholm said CDC should coordinate with medical groups to come up with treatment guidelines.
5. The CDC put too much trust in protective gear.
Once Duncan was diagnosed, health authorities started making daily visits to 48 of his contacts.
But that didn't include several dozen workers at Presbyterian who took care of Duncan after he was diagnosed. They weren't followed because they were wearing protective gear when they had contact with Duncan. Instead, they monitored themselves.
Public health experts said that was a misstep, as the CDC should have realized that putting on and taking off protective gear is often done imperfectly and one of the workers might get an infection.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/health/ebola-cdc/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
One thing I noticed is that workers in Liberia spray each other down with disinfectant before removing protective gear. With the buddy system in place, that just seems to make sense.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and every single employee at a Hospital in Texas, hadn't practiced and perfected, then perfectly implemented, infectious disease protocols.
And there sure is a scent o' pine around here.
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