Rep. Costa, Dr. Ruiz and Valley Healthcare Professionals Lead California Ebola Preparedness Efforts

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Published on Friday, 17 October 2014 18:06
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WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) and Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) led 24 members of the California Delegation in a letter to the California Hospital Association President and CEO, C. Duane Dauner, and the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems President and CEO, Erica Murray, to help ensure that hospitals across California are taking all appropriate measures to train and prepare their staff to screen, diagnose, and treat potential Ebola patients.

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “This week two health care professionals developed the first cases of Ebola contracted on United States soil, despite protections in place for health care workers…It is [now] clear that the precautions taken to protect health care workers from Ebola must be re-examined. All appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that these dangerous lapses do not happen again.”

Representatives expressed concerns including, but not limited to, ensuring hospitals’ are preparing health care professionals with the latest standards of care and protocols to contain the virus and treat potential patients.

“It is essential that our hospitals take every step to ensure that we can treat possible Ebola patients without unnecessarily jeopardizing the well-being of our healthcare professionals,” said Rep. Costa. “Communication among treatment centers, thorough training and complete preparation are key if we are to successfully end the Ebola outbreak.”

“The Children's Hospital Central California has screening processes in place at all our entrances to immediately identify anyone at risk for Ebola. We have a designated room in the Emergency Department for immediate evaluation and a designated intensive care room if a patient needs inpatient care,” said Dr. Karen Dahl, VP Quality and Patient Safety at Children's Hospital Central California. “We have a long history of working with the public health system to initiate contact tracing of exposed persons in the community.”

“I am very confident that we will be able to detect and manage any patient with Ebola.  The Health Department stands ready to do contact tracing and monitoring of any contacts that might be exposed,” said Dr. Ken Bird, Interim Fresno County Health Officer. “We must remember to get our flu shots. In the United States, more people will die from the influenza virus than the Ebola virus.”

“As an emergency medicine physician and as an expert in humanitarian disaster relief, I know how critical it is for our hospitals to be fully prepared to treat and contain potential Ebola patients,” said Dr. Ruiz. “Ensuring our health care professionals here in the Coachella Valley and across California are educated on the latest containment and treatment protocol is critical to preventing the spread of this virus and effectively treating those infected. With the proper preparations I am confident the U.S. health care system will fully contain any instances of Ebola infection.”

The lawmakers went on to say, “It is critical that…every hospital is taking action to ensure its staff is fully prepared…We are confident that the U.S. health system can and will respond appropriately to contain Ebola as long as providers are properly prepared to do so.”

Members of the California Congressional delegation who joined to send the letter to the California Hospital Association and the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems are; Dr. Raul Ruiz (CA-36); Rep. Jim Costa (CA-16); Rep. Ami Bera (CA-7); Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-2); Rep. Janice Hahn (CA-44); Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37); Rep. Julia Brownley (CA-26); Rep. Tony Cardenas (CA-29); Judy Chu (CA-27); Rep. Sam Farr (CA-20); Rep. John Garamendi (CA-3); Rep. Mike Honda (CA-17); Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13); Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-19); Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA-47); Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA-35); Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52); Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA- 40); Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA-38); Rep. Loretta Sanchez (CA-46); Rep. Adam Schiff (CA-28); Rep. Brad Sherman (CA-30); Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15); Rep. Mark Takano (CA-41); Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-51); Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-43).

 

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