About 15 minutes from me.
UCI attempts to calm Ebola fears, even as two Orange County residents monitored for virus
The message from experts is simple: Don’t panic. The message from the O.C. health agency is also simple: We’re watching.
Shruti
Gohil, associate medical director of epidemiology and infection
prevention and infectious disease at UC Irvine School of Medicine,
speaks at the roundtable event “Ebola: What You Should Know.” The event
attracted over 700 attendees to UC Irvine on Monday night. Students,
professors, healthcare workers and the general public got a clearer
picture of issues surrounding t
At UC Irvine, a panel of experts addressed a crowd of more than 700,
discussing the science, politics, economics and, above all, the fear
surrounding the Ebola virus.
That was Monday night. The morning
after, Orange County health officials said they are monitoring the
health of two county residents who traveled recently to West Africa. The
news marks the first time health workers in Orange County have looked
for Ebola.
Neither traveler will be subjected to isolation or
quarantine, but they will be monitored for 21 days and will report their
temperature twice daily, said Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for the
Orange County Health Agency. Health officials also will conduct home
visits, Thompson said.
That kind of news, and growing national
concern over Ebola, is what prompted UCI to host Monday’s panel
discussion, “Ebola: What You Should Know,” said Andrew Noymer, associate
professor of UCI’s Public Health Program.
The talk, held in UCI’s biggest meeting room, touched on public policy, science and emotion.
THE PANIC
What makes Ebola panic-worthy?
Ebola is deadly, Noymer said, and people associate deadliness with ease of transmission.
Still,
other diseases, including flu and West Nile, can be deadly too, and
both are far more common than Ebola. But they don’t typically generate
panic.
Part of the difference, Noymer said, is that Ebola is an
exotic disease (it’s named after the Ebola River, a tributary of the
Congo) and people have little experience with it.
“It’s the fear
of the unknown. The only way to curb this panic and hysteria is getting
the right information out there and building up awareness.”
Noymer and others on the panel pointed out a simple fact: Ebola is infectious, but not highly contagious.
Spreading
such information is also the only way to avoid Ebola stigma, said
Brandon Brown, assistant professor at UCI and director of the Global
Health Initiative.
“There is going to be fear and stigma with
anything new. We had it with HIV and the gay community,” Brown said.
“Now, it’s doctors and nurses who are going to West Africa to help Ebola
patients.
“These people should be getting a hero’s welcome, but they’re not.”
Last
week, 33-year-old Craig Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola after
returning to New York City on Oct. 17 from Guinea, where he spent time
working with Ebola patients. Kaci Hickox, a nurse who spent a month in
Sierra Leone, was quarantined briefly in New Jersey before being allowed
to go home to Maine.
“If we continue to panic and take these
measures, doctors and nurses who are much needed in West Africa won’t
want to go,” said Carolyn Boyd, an Irvine resident who attended the UCI
event. “Making people more fearful is not the solution.”
Kathryn Frost, an Irvine resident, said she was reassured after listening to the experts Monday.
“I’m comforted to know that the disease is not as contagious as I thought it was.”
PREPAREDNESS IN ORANGE COUNTY
All
five University of California medical centers, including UC Irvine, are
prepared to treat Ebola patients, the California Department of Public
Health has announced. Last week, UCI trained 50 staff members for Ebola
response, and more than 100 are expected to be trained by the end of
this week, said hospital spokesman John Murray.
Training extends
from medical personnel, such as doctors and nurses, to housekeepers,
therapists and reception workers – anybody who might come in contact
with a patient, Murray said.
Costs, for now, aren’t part of the equation, he said.
“Our goal is to make sure we are fully prepared should we get any Ebola cases or suspected cases.”
But
Joy Valdellon, a registered nurse at UCI Medical Center who attended
Monday’s event, said she is not comfortable with the level of training
and protective equipment being provided to nurses. She believes training
should be standardized and extended to all nurses.
“Otherwise, (the hospital) is putting us, our families and our communities, at risk,” she said.
Murray said Valdellon was not being trained because Ebola patients would not come through the outpatient surgery center.
“We have screening procedures in place where we are asking for patients’ travel history,” he said.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or mailto:dbharath@ocregister.com - dbharath@ocregister.com http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ebola-640114-uci-health.html
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