Abbeville General has plan for Ebola

Abbeville General has a plan in place when it comes to handling hazards, like the Ebola virus.
With an Ebola patient dieing in a Dallas hospital, the first in the United States, hospitals throughout the United States are taking precautions and designating certain rooms in the emergency room for any patients suspected of being exposed to the Ebola virus.
The odds are slim to none of anyone in Vermilion Parish catching the virus, but that’s not preventing Abbeville General from going on the defensive.
Heidi Broussard is the infection control coordinator for Abbeville General. She said the newly renovated Emergency Department at the hospital has a special decontamination (decon) room that can be utilized if a patient is thought to have the Ebola virus.
The decon room is for patients brought in that would need to undergo a decontamination procedure as recommended by the CDC to prevent exposure to staff and other patients.
Also, the hospital has a special Hospital Emergency Response Team (HERT) in place to deal with all hazards such as the Ebola, enterovirus or flu virus.
The HERT team deals with all hazards that have a potential to cause an outbreak or cause a mass influx of patients due to a chemical or biological hazardous exposure in the environment. The HERT team becomes involved when these viruses cause an outbreak, resulting in a mass influx of patients at a given time. Specific protocols have been established by the hospital’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Tim Holcomb, RN to address such a condition should the need arise.
Broussard said, “We receive updates directly from the Louisiana Office of Public Health, as well as the CDC, and are committed to instituting the recommendations and precautions immediately. Our HERT team conducts drills throughout the year, and part of this drill procedure is practicing proper contamination of infectious subjects.”
For the last month, since the outbreak of Ebola in Africa, hospitals, including Abbeville General, has been preparing in case it makes its way to the United States.
Broussard said patients who visit the ER are screened and questions are asked about their health conditions.
There have been no reported cases in Louisiana. Ebola can only spread through contact with secretions, such as blood, sweat or saliva of an infected individual.
At the state government level, health officials are making contact with colleges and universities, who have students and academics traveling to Africa, as well as groups that provide doctors, missionaries and humanitarian aid, and anyone else thought to have gone to or been in contact with people who have gone to the countries where the virus has spread.