More U.S. Hospitals Designated as Ebola Treatment Centers
In a collaborative effort, the CDC is training and assessing Ebola hospital readiness.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that 35 U.S. hospitals are now equipped to treat patients with Ebola, meaning a nationwide health system is ready to treat Ebola victims if necessary. According to CDC, state health officials have identified and designated those hospitals as Ebola treatment centers, and more are expected in the coming weeks.
Hospitals with Ebola treatment centers have been designated by state health officials to serve as treatment facilities for Ebola patients based on a collaborative decision with local health authorities and the hospital administration. Ebola treatment centers are staffed, equipped and have been assessed to have current capabilities, training and resources to provide the complex treatment necessary to care for a person with Ebola while minimizing risk to health care workers.
"We continue our efforts to strengthen domestic preparedness and hospital readiness. I am pleased to announce that 35 hospitals have been designated by state health officials as Ebola treatment centers that are prepared, trained, and ready to provide care for a patient with Ebola," said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.
More than 80 percent of returning travelers from Ebola-stricken countries live within 200 miles of an Ebola treatment center. During their active monitoring, state or local public health authorities communicate every day with potentially exposed individuals to check for symptoms and fever for the 21 day incubation period of the Ebola virus.
The additional facilities supplement the three national bio containment facilities at Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will continue to play a major role in our overall national treatment strategy, particularly for patients who are medically evacuated from overseas. Facilities will continue to be added in the next several weeks to further broaden geographic reach.