Local Nurses Speak Out About Ebola
By Jan Carabeo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - News that two Dallas nurses are now infected with Ebola has prompted some nurses from our area and across the nation to speak out. They are calling for more training and better protection.
The nurses are understandably concerned about Ebola because that second health care provider just tested positive for the virus and now the nation's largest health care union for registered nurses is demanding that the President set mandates for protection for their workers.
"In Liberia, Ebola is now called 'the nurse killer disease,' so that gives me great cause for concern," Kathy Toomey, a nurse at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, tells CBS3 Eyewitness News.
Toomey is one of the 11,000 health care workers demanding higher standards from hospitals. The nation's largest nurses union says when it comes to Ebola, protocols at most hospitals are sub par or non-existent.
"We are the front line," says Toomey. "We are the people that will be going in. If you don't have the proper protocols in place, one mistake is all it takes. What I am afraid of is people trying to short cut your protection and short cut this and ending up like Dallas."
Nurses in Dallas alleged the violations include no specific protocol in place. Thomas Duncan, they
say, was left in the public area with other patients for several hours and nurses didn't have proper protective gear. Duncan's lab samples were unsealed and transported through the general distribution system and the nurses who treated Duncan were allowed to interact with other patients.
Toomey wants the standards followed by some universities where health care providers have successfully treated patients without further infection:
"If they're not the highest standard like Emory or the University of Nebraska, then I would not feel comfortable taking care of a patient."
Toomey says those universities frequently train with anti-contamination gear and hazmat suits.
Meanwhile, communities across the Delaware Valley continue to prepare for a possible Ebola outbreak, and Philadelphia City Council will be holding hearings to discuss this city's readiness.
