Reports that a Dallas nurse contracted Ebola after caring for a Liberian patient has some U.S. healthcare workers on edge --- questioning both the safety protocol and the available equipment.
Camellia Fountain, Emergency Room Nurse at Providence Hospital said "At this point right now, we can request an isolation cart and that may be a gown, it may be a mask, we always wear gloves and maybe some shoe covers...We know of what has happened so far in Texas, that sometimes the things that we're supplied may not be adequate."
Camellia Fountain is emergency room nurse at Providence Hospital in Washington. She says that while she's aware of safety measures, she'd like a more thorough refresher
Camellia said "This is something new. Something that we are not used to, so until we can understand it appropriately, HAZMAT suits and proper training is the only way that is going to protect us protect the patients, protect our community."
Because emergency room personnel are often the first to assess a possible Ebola patient, Fountain likens her job to being on the frontlines.
She also mentioned "Would you send a soldier into iraq without the right, proper equipment to keep them safe...We need to consider our health the same dangers as what we consider in the war front." Adding to many healthcare workers unease is the fact that officials still don't know how the the Dallas nurse was infected.
© 2017 Reuters All rights reserved.
