Last Thursday afternoon a man who had presented with flu-like symptoms was transported by Central Emergency Services.
Central Peninsula Hospital Executive Director Rick Davis said the man was concerned about the possibility of Ebola due to the fact that he had just returned from Africa.
Davis: “We contacted the state section on epidemiology before the patient arrived and we were able to get some further information including flight path and if there was any contact with people who had had Ebola, and because the patient didn’t have contact and didn’t travel through a country with widespread Ebola transmission, the patient was not suspected of having Ebola according to the CDC algorithm. And this was confirmed with the state section on epidemiology as well and so the patient was treated for his flu symptoms and released.”
He said unlike some Lower 48 medical facilities there is no way to test for Ebola in Alaska yet.
Davis added that CPH has been working on the training to handle outbreaks like this and this event was a good learning opportunity.
Davis: “We were able to practice some of our preparations and debrief the emergency department physicians, nurses, and staff to identify opportunities to improve, such as becoming more sophisticated in our donning and offing of our personal protective equipment, which we have plenty of. There’s actually new guidelines coming out from the CDC I believe today, regarding PP equipment and some more stringent requirements on how to put it on and take it off.”