Nurse Perspective of Mass. Ebola Preparedness

The Legislature's public health committee held a Statehouse hearing on Thursday to assess the readiness of Massachusetts to deal with Ebola, the virus that has infected thousands in West Africa.

The Legislature's public health committee held a Statehouse hearing on Thursday to assess the readiness of Massachusetts to deal with Ebola, the virus that has infected thousands in West Africa.

Donna Kelly-Williams, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, joined Broadside to discuss the hearing.

"There have been policies and protocols looked at in the upper levels in hospitals, but it hasn't trickled down to the frontline people that are caring for patients," Kelly-Williams began.

Kelly-Williams says nurses and health care workers need to be trained on how to react to a patient coming into a Massachusetts hospital with Ebola-life symptoms and a history of travel to West Africa.

"Since we have raised the alarm about this, hospitals are planning and going forward to have some training in place, but again, they are not having the nurses sit down with them and tell them specifically what we need," she said.

According to Kelly-Williams, hospitals in Massachusetts are unprepared to provide treatment to patients infected with Ebola. When she testified at the Massachusetts Statehouse on Thursday morning, she said the Department of Public Health seemed shocked by this notion.

"I think we are making progress and we are raising the alarm on this. We have heard that there is supplies coming in, but what we want are the supplies that have proven to be effective," Kelly-Williams said. "We can do this and we can do it right. We're not going to get a second chance."

Kelly-Williams says there will be a follow-up meeting next week with more of the frontline workers.

2,425 Liberians, including 95 health care workers, have died since the Ebola outbreak began. 

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