EBOLA: Stop Blaming the Victims! Okay, people are scared batshit crazy about Ebola in the US. Yes, there is plenty of reason to be concerned, but not for the reasons you think. STOP. BLAMING. THE. VICTIMS. Stop asking why the nurse got on the damned plane. Stop asking whether or not the Liberian patient lied and/or entered the US legally or illegally. Start asking why the CDC, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the current administration in DC havent put stringent protocols in place for isolation and infection control, and quarantine for those who have provided care for the patients infected with Ebola. Start asking why the CDC and the Secretary of Health and Human Services have not already restricted entrance into the US for those in the areas adjacent to and within the epidemic. And ask why the current Acting Surgeon General of the US has remained silent. Ask yourselves why infected patients were brought into the US in the first place. After youve asked yourself those questions, lets go back to the nurse on the plane. She followed protocol. Allow me to repeat that: The nurse followed protocol - to the letter. 1. She contacted the appropriate authorities. 2. She was documented with those authorities as a healthcare provider who cared for a patient with Ebola. 3. She informed those authorities of her travel plans (caps for emphasis) AND SHE INFORMED THEM SHE HAD A LOW-GRADE FEVER (99.5F). 4. Those authorities did not tell her she shouldnt fly or travel in general. 5. Those authorities told her she did not meet their criteria for testing for Ebola. 6. Those authorities did not have in place protocols or directives to quarantine her or any other staff who came in contact with Ebola patients. (Note: All of the above information is publicly available and not hard to find.) Now, stop and think about these points for a moment...After youve done that, keep in mind that hindsight is always 100 percent correct. Surgeon General aside, ask yourself why the CDC and the Secretary for Health and Human Services have not acted to put protocols in place for quarantine. Not everyone is as responsible as the two men who have voluntarily placed themselves in quarantine because they were on board that same flight. You can read for yourself about the disease and its symptoms, but keep in mind this is a sneaky virus. It presents not much different than the usual stomach bug or the flu. Now that youve given these points some thought, put aside whatever you read in the mainstream media and use your computer as the research tool it can become. There are reams of information out there on Ebola from the CDC, NIH, WHO just to name the Big Three. Ebola is extremely objectively and scientifically well-documented. The research papers are informative to the nth degree. There is also a huge amount of information from the Big Three written for practitioners and laypersons. Once you have done your research, realize that your new-found knowledge is your first weapon in protecting yourself, allaying your fears, AND in holding the appropriate authorities accountable. If you take nothing else away from this post, please remember this: 1. Ebola is here. Your first defense is knowledge. Educate yourself and dont rely on talking heads in the mainstream media. They are paid to suck in gullible viewers/readers. 2. Hold the feet of the appropriate authorities to the fire. You have more power than you think you do. Exercising that power is as easy as making a phone call or writing a letter or sending an email. Imagine for a moment that you are one of those authorities and you find yourself sitting underneath a pile of mail, your computer crashed from emails, and your phone lines choked with phone calls. And you know that if you dont get off your butt and do something, your job is forfeit. Remember Katrina? 3. And this is probably the most important thing to remember: As one who has worked in healthcare for a lot of years, I know that those frontline providers are doing everything they possibly can to help not only their patients, but the public in general. I know this because I was a paramedic when Legionnaires made its debut in Philadelphia. The nurses in that Texas hospital are not unionized, but they contacted the nurses union to give them a voice because they refused to keep silent. We can do the Monday Morning Quarterback thing, or we can insist that those in positions of authority do their jobs instead of playing the Cover Your Ass game. And above all: Dont panic. And please...dont blame the victims. cdc.gov/quarantine/aboutlawsregulationsquarantineisolation.html
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:31:50 +0000
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