By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“They’re telling us that people are dying,” said Andrew Thomas.
He’s a nurse at Robert Wood Johnson, but Thomas is originally from Sierra Leone and has lots of family there. He says it’s grim. People are panic-stricken.
“Getting out is very hard because a lot of people are trying to get out. Everything is shut down. Most of the other hospitals are closed,” he said.
Thomas usually spends two weeks every year volunteering at a clinic in Sierra Leone. But this year, British Airways cancelled his flight.
“Most of the people who can afford to fly out are trying to fly out. Because they can afford to get out and they don’t want to be exposed to the Ebola,” he said.
But some airline passengers from West Africa may have already been exposed. This weekend, a man from Liberia arrived on a United Airlines flight in Newark and was taken to University Hospital, after falling ill during the trip. Health officials say he didn’t have Ebola. New Jersey’s Department of Health claims its 71 hospitals have an approved CDC protocol for handling cases like that one. But Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Melvin Weinstein says it’s not that pat.
“I think we’re dealing with a moving target. Procedures that people are putting in place are evolving. But I think that most of the procedures in place are fairly well-standardized,” he said.
Potential Ebola cases taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital would go to an ER Isolation Room. The CDC recommends gowns impervious to body fluids. Much of the equipment — like the stethoscope — is disposable. Face shields and masks.
“We also use a mask to protect us from droplets and and every year every staff member is fitted to wear this mask. We go through a fitting to make sure it’s actually protecting you,” said Katie Carroll, RN at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
But protocol’s only as good as its implementation. ER staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas sent Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan home the first time, after he told them he’d recently arrived from Liberia. Sen. Bob Singer wrote to New Jersey’s health commissioner about the apparent Texas misstep.
“They didn’t follow protocol. And when the CDC says, ‘Well we’re working on it,’ we don’t have time to work on it,” Singer said.
“We have been working to prevent any kind of potential for exposure,” said Commissioner Mary O’Dowd. ” We’ve been working with hospitals across the state over the last few months in providing technical assistance.”
Meanwhile, West Africans continue to arrive.
“If we try to isolate a small area of the world, we are isolating ourselves,” Thomas said.
Thomas still wants to fly to Sierra Leone to volunteer, to save as many lives as he can.