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By Sam Wroblewski 630WPRO.com News
The Rhode Island State Nurses Association (RISNA) says the state’s hospitals are not ready to handle a potential outbreak of Ebola.
Executive Director of the RISNA Donna Policastro told the WPRO News with Gene Valicenti that despite what the Department of Health is saying, the state does not have the proper procedures in places to handle multiple cases of Ebola.
“We have not seen a plan come out of DOH regarding how we’re going to handle patients as they arrive in the emergency room who may be suspected of having Ebola,” said Policastro.
Policastro said the DOH has not even determined if they isolate Ebola patients at one hospital, or spread them throughout the all the Rhode Island hospitals.
“At this stage of the game, if we had patient arrive at our hospital with Ebola I’m not sure we’re ready.”
Policastro said the state needs to be coordinating with the CDC and briefing the health care community as was done with the H1N1 and SARS scare and equipping hospitals with the proper gear to handle the virus.
“We need information, we need training, we need mock drills, we need equipment, we need to know what the statewide plan is, we need to be allowed to have input into the plan; because we’re the first line of defense.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the United Nurses and Allied Professions health care union representing almost 7,000 will announce the results of an Ebola preparedness survey next week.
WPRO spoke with Governor Lincoln Chafee who said he was disappointed to hear Policastro’s concerns.
“We’ve been working so hard over a number of months and I think really leading the nation on our preparation for an outbreak of Ebola,” said Chafee, “We’re doing the best we can, like anything its not absolutely perfect, but we’ve really been, I think, on the national forefront of preparation.”
Chafee said he feels he and the Department of Health have been communicative with the public for quite some time.
The Department of Health has no officially commented on the RISNA’s statements.
