Athens health officials will meet with O’Bleness Memorial Hospital to review Ebola procedures
Just as Rick Callebs, Chief of Athens County Emergency Medical Services, was planning his department’s Thursday morning meeting with OhioHealth O’Bleness Memorial Hospital to check Ebola protocols — he heard of the virus possibly passing through the state.
A Dallas health care worker who is currently infected with the virus had spent time in Summit County this week, traveling by a Frontier Airlines flight in Cleveland back to Texas on Monday — a day before she was diagnosed with the Ebola virus.
Her family members are employees at Kent State University, said Madeleine Winer, managing editor of The Kent Stater.
The virus is currently a concern for some city and county officials, who met Wednesday to discuss Halloween Block Party preparations, which gave way to a conversation gauging Athens’ preparedness for the virus.
“We’re probably going to see where (Athens) is at with procedures; we want it to be seamless as far as rapidly identifying someone when we respond on them,” Callebs said. “There are physical symptoms we’re looking for and some type of travel plans involving they just came back from a country where the Ebola situation is.”
The virus is transmitted by bodily fluids, such as vomit, sweat or blood, of infected persons. The health care worker had been exposed to Thomas Eric Duncan during his treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, though he died last week.
The Ohio Department of Health sent out a news release Tuesday detailing further precautions the state would be taking to combat an Ebola epidemic, including working closely with local health departments.
Callebs will be addressing those procedures specifically with O’Bleness, seeing if there are any “loose ends.” He added that they are stocking up on the emergency equipment kept in their EMS vehicles.
“We work with the patient to keep anything contained if they’re vomiting or incontinent,” he said. “We’ll do whatever we need to do to keep it from spilling on the floor of the truck or the parking lot of the hospital.”
Callebs said a patient likely would be transferred to a Columbus hospital, if an incident of Ebola were to arise.
He said that nearly every city and county official has inquired about a possible outbreak, including the “informal discussion” Wednesday about Ebola and the influx of tourists coming to Athens for Halloween Weekend.
Athens County Commissioner Chris Chmiel has asked Callebs about precautions being taken to control an Ebola outbreak in Athens at the past two commissioners meetings.
“I’ve been waking up at night worrying about it because it’s getting worse and worse,” Chmiel said Wednesday. “To me it seems like if we continue down this path of business-as-usual we’re going to have more problems.”
Athens is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention procedures, which leaves little room for error, said Charles Hammer, administrator for the Athens City-County Health Department.
“That gives me great confidence that we’re going to be able to deal with the current Ebola situation in this country,” Hammer said.
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