March 27, 2015
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 33, No. 30
Ebola drill was no March Madness
Inside TelehealTh
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Technology aids in emergency preparedness. Above: C.J. Kopeck and Brandy Pockrus inspect all aspects of Sethe Wetter’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Right: As paramedics Susan Stockdale opens the Isopod, Seth Weller and C.J. Kopeck stand ready to transfer the mock Ebola patient Dr. Mary Favaro.
WOmen’s hisTOry photos by J. Ryne Danielson, Public Relations
By Mikie Hayes Public Relations
S
ome might say March 20 was a rather dreary Friday morning. Still, even a chilly, overcast Friday is better than most days when it signifies the end of the work week — especially during March Madness. And on that day, members of MUSC’s specialized medical team would be guarding their own zones, confident in the knowledge that the best offense to fighting an infectious disease is a strong and steady defense.
This is a drill, Only a drill An hour away from MUSC, at Georgetown Memorial Hospital, a 62-year-old woman entered the Emergency Department early that morning feeling sick. Two weeks prior, she had spent time in a country that had, in late 2014, been at the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic with the third highest incidence in the world — the West African country of
Guinea. After returning stateside, she drove to Andrews to visit family. She started running a fever and twice had to quickly pull her car over at roadside gas stations, suffering extreme bouts of diarrhea. Her dates of travel and symptoms fit within the 21-day incubation period for Ebola, and being that her symptoms seemed consistent with those of Ebola, she was further screened. Any patient in South Carolina who recently traveled to West Africa and exhibits a fever is to be isolated and the Department of Health and Environmental Control notified immediately. Having met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for possible Ebola infection, the staff placed her in isolation and informed DHEC, which in turn instructed MUSC to send Meducare to safely transport her in the Isopod from Georgetown to MUSC for further treatment.
That morning, the MUSC notification cascade had alerted appropriate medical leadership to the possibility of an Ebola patient being brought to MUSC. The Ebola protocol was initiated. Kathy Lehman-Huskamp, M.D., director of Emergency Preparedness and medical director of the Specialized Medical Unit, and Brian Fletcher, R.N., disaster preparedness program manager, assumed oversight and coordinated processes from MUSC’s control room. Janet Byrne, nurse manager of the Specialized Medical Unit (SMU), mobilized the Specialized Medical Team (SMT), which would arrive around noon to begin the very specific regimen. Via a large, wall-mounted computer screen, Lehman-Huskamp and Fletcher were able to see and consult with Georgetown staff in both the isolation room with the patient as well as outside the room, thanks to MUSC’s telehealth communications system created
See Drill on page 6
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New career path changes nurse’s life.
3 Safe Kids 4 Research Impact 5 Meet Abid T h e C aTa ly s T O n l i n e
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