In response to Ebola, a hospital near Dallas, Texas, gave an emergency room nurse a huge “protective mask,” which looks like it came out of Dark Helmet’s closet, and apparently nothing else for the rest of her body.
My 26 yr old daughter, an ER nurse in Dallas area sent me a pic of what her hosp gave nurses 4 “protection”. #Ebola pic.twitter.com/SoJtMGe08B
— Lisa (@Flyingright1) October 16, 2014
This photo emphasizes how hospitals and health workers are expected to treat Ebola without proper training or equipment, which will only increase the chances of a major pandemic.
So far, two registered nurses who treated the late Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan have tested positive for the disease.
“RNs from California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Texas described widespread concerns in their hospitals about inadequate preparedness at a time when at least two nurses have been tested positive for the Ebola virus in a hospital where one patient infected by the disease has died,” National Nurses United, the largest association of nurses in the U.S., stated in a press release.
The NNU also released a statement from RNs who work at the hospital where Duncan was treated and were frustrated over “a lack of preparation and training at their hospital.”
“In the statement, the Texas RNs described confusion in the hospital over policies in responding to patients with Ebola, inadequate advance training and availability of proper personal protective equipment, and changing guidelines,” the NNU reported. “In the end, the nurses said they felt ‘unsupported, unprepared and deserted to handle the situation on their own.'”
The situation in Dallas is so severe that local officials may declare a local state of disaster caused by Ebola.
Dallas County “has the potential to suffer widespread or severe damage, injury, loss or threat of life resulting from the Ebola virus,” according to a draft of the declaration.
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