Governor Wants State Hospital Workers Prepared For Ebola
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FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -- Governor Rick Scott, in South Florida for Wednesday night's Gubernatorial Debate, wants Florida hospital workers to be prepared for the possibility of treating an Ebola patient.
Wednesday, Gov. Scott announced that the Florida Department of Health has asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to instruct Florida hospitals on best practices and what lessons have been learned from their experience in Dallas to best protect Florida healthcare workers in the event that Florida has an Ebola patient.
"Now that there is a second healthcare worker with Ebola in Dallas, we want Florida hospitals to hear directly from the CDC on how to best protect our health care workers on the front lines," said Gov. Scott. "While the CDC has existing guidance, there have been public reports from nurses in Texas that either that guidance was not followed, or the guidance for healthcare workers needs to be updated. Whatever the case may be, Florida hospitals must hear any new safety guidelines directly from the CDC in the next 48 hours so our hospitals are best prepared to protect the health of nurses, doctors and patients. We are asking the CDC to hold a conference call with Florida hospitals on the best training and personal protective equipment protocols in the next 48 hours because we have to act with a sense of urgency to ensure our hospitals are prepared."
The second Dallas healthcare worker, now confirmed to have contracted the virus, was involved in the care of a Liberian man who died of Ebola last week in Dallas. That worker also took a flight and health officials are alerting airline passengers who were on the same flight as the nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola the next day. The 132 passengers were on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday. The airplane's crew said the nurse had no symptoms of Ebola during the flight. But the next morning she developed a fever and Tuesday night, tested positive for Ebola.
Governor Scott also wants more money to help protect Florida's healthcare workers.
"We have also informed the CDC of DOH's work to redirect federal grant funding, so we can purchase more personal protective equipment and other supplies to prepare for any case of Ebola in Florida. In light of this second case in Dallas today, we are asking the CDC to support our work to redirect these federal funds for Ebola preparedness, also within the next 48 hours."
Scott previously called on Florida hospitals to hold mandatory training for their healthcare workers on Ebola preparedness. To date, only 39 hospitals in Florida have reported to the Department of Health that their mandatory healthcare worker training is complete.
On Tuesday, State Surgeon General Armstrong sent a letter to Thomas Frieden, Director of the CDC, announcing that Florida is working to redirect over $7 million in federal grant funding to Ebola preparedness efforts, specifically for the purchase of high-level PPEs to protect health care workers. Of the $7 million intended for redirection, $5.8 million requires federal support.
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