Three people test negative for Ebola in Metro Vancouver: BC Nurses Union

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METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The BC Nurses’ Union says there’s concern over the way three suspected cases of Ebola have been handled at Lower Mainland hospitals.

The possible cases were reported over the last 10 days and all tests for the virus came back negative. Nurses say they have not received enough training or equipment to handle a real case.

BC Nurses’ Union president Gayle Duteil wonders what would happen if a real case turns up and says health authorities are not doing enough to make sure nurses are trained.

“Certainly it was a learning opportunity for health authorities. There’s no question. They certainly had to scramble to repair some of the gaps that were blatantly present in those suspected cases. Fortunately, fortunately, they turned out negative.”

Duteil knows best practices are being discussed at the higher levels of the healthcare system, but the information isn’t filtering down to the front line.

“Nurses have not even been orientated to the personal protection that’s required. We’ve been doing rounds in some of the major hospitals in the Lower Mainland and well over 60 per cent of them have not received training in proper infection control procedures in dealing with Ebola patients. That’s, that’s a significant number.”

She says more communication and training is a must going forward.

BC’s chief medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall disagrees with the nurses assessment, but says improvements can always be made.

He’s co-chairing a group that will include all the stakeholders in the same fashion as what was done during the swine flu outbreak.

Kendall says the committee will work to make sure every health care worker knows what to do if a real case of Ebola is discovered.

He adds if or when a case is confirmed in BC, it will be made public.

Meanwhile, the BC Centre For Disease Control is pleased with news these suspected cases are being found.

Dr. Danuta Skowronski says that shows our screening system is working. “If there weren’t suspect cases here as there are in other regions, not only of North America, but globally, it would lead us to question whether our surveillance system is sensitive enough to pick up possible cases.”

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