By Jenny Handke
Murphy News Service
The university community need not worry about Ebola on campus, said officials with the University of Minnesota Medical Center and Boynton Health Service.
University medical personnel have been briefed, trained and prepared to handle a patient with Ebola, even though the likelihood that a person will contract the disease on campus is small, All staff at Boynton Health Service and the University of Minnesota Medical Center are trained in handling an Ebola patient as outlined in the protocols and guidelines administered by the Centers for Disease Control.
A multi-step protection process is in place in case a patient were to contract Ebola on campus. One steps is to stop any potential contamination and spread of the virus at the door. The Boynton Health Service building posted large, visible signs at the front doors of the building, inside the foyer and in the lobby, which urge patients with Ebola-like symptoms to call the number on the sign so the patient can be escorted to an urgent care room inside the clinic.
Patients would be further examined once in the clinic and then transported to the University of Minnesota Medical Center where they would be tested for the disease in an isolated room.
All nurses and doctors at the medical center are trained and equipped with proper personal protective equipment for treating a patient with Ebola virus, which includes two pairs of gloves, masks, protective head coverings, robes and aprons, completely covering the skin.
David Golden, director of health and communications of Boynton Health Service, said previous health care system procedures at the university that were in place before the Ebola outbreak in West Africa helped with the training of all medical personnel at Boynton Health Service and the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Training staff for treating a patient with SARS is just one example of an infectious disease that helped prepared the clinic and hospital for an Ebola patient.
If a patient goes to Boynton with a fever, vomiting, diarrhea and has been to Africa within the past 21 days, the patient would then be escorted to an urgent care room with a private bathroom.
“And then we’ll do a little bit more assessment at that point. We’re not going to do the blood testing here [at Boynton] because we’re not going to care for them here,” Golden said. “They’ll be referred out to the University of Minnesota Medical Center.”
Carolyn Wilson, president of the University of Minnesota Medical Center said the medical center is one of four hospitals in Minnesota that is prepared to admit and care for a patient with Ebola. The other three hospitals are Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Allina Health’s Unity Hospital in Fridley and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul.
The university’s Ebola preparation website states the university issued a student travel restriction, which is consistent the CDC’s level 3 travel advisory. Students are urged to avoid travel to the African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Other measures to prepare for a patient with Ebola include ongoing staff training of detecting an Ebola patient, reviewing CDC safety guidelines and updates, and encouraging all staff and students to get a flu shot.
Reporter Jenny Handke is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.