Queens Hospital Prepares for Ebola

By LOVASHNI KHALIKAPRASAD

A team of medical specialists at a general hospital in Queens on Tuesday described the extensive preparations and procedures they have put in place to treat and isolate any Ebola patients thy might receive in the future

Doctors and nurses at New York Hospital Queens said at a news conference that they have been practicing drills, training the staff on infection control methods, and teaching them on how to put on and take off the uniform properly.

“We have a whole system of specialists who could take care of the sickest patient,” said Dr. Mark Kindschuh, chairman of the department of emergency medicine.

There is a fully-equipped isolation unit in place for any infected  patient.

“We currently have on site an isolation area that is built in order to allow us to treat patients who are at risk and to focus on this and to ensure protection of our patients and our staff,” said Dr. Kindschuh.

If a patient comes to the hospital and shows Ebola-like symptoms, that patient is, “masked immediately,” said Dr. Kindschuh. After the patient administers the mask by himself, he will be placed into an isolated area where further “history-taking” is done. The staff also is required to follow  procedures and protocols laid out by the New York Department of Health and remain updated by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), administrators said.

“We don’t deny that there should be concern, but we emphasize being prepared and very calm,” said Dr. Soranan Segal-Maurer, director of The Dr. James J. Rahal Jr. Division of Infectious Diseases.

“Because we are located in an area where we are expecting travel from all parts of the world from JFK and LaGuardia, we have just done an extensive amount of training personnel and education to keep everyone calm and just practicing taking care of things in a calm fashion,” added Dr. Segal-Maurer.

Patients who suffer from fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are regarded as having nonspecific symptoms of the virus. Dr. Segal-Maurer said that people who think they might show these symptoms should constantly check their temperature and monitor these symptoms. A temperature reading of 101.5 and above most likely indicates that the patient is infected with the virus.

“We believe we are prepared as can be. We’re practicing our preparedness every day,” said Dr. Kindschuh.