Norton Says U.S. Needs More Regional Specialized Hospitals and More Training for Health Care Workers to Prevent Ebola Exposure Here

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that Dallas health care worker Nina Pham will be transferred to the Bethesda NIH campus for Ebola virus treatment and isolation, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said the United States needs more than just four hospitals with special isolation units designed to contain infectious diseases like Ebola. Norton said that, because of the unique training and treatment procedures Ebola requires, four hospitals with special isolation units – the NIH in Bethesda, MD; the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE; St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, MT; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA – are not enough, particularly given the numerous frontline health care workers that must be involved. She noted that two more units are under construction at Kansas State University and Boston University, some indication of a realization that the existing small units could become overwhelmed.

Norton said that even if there are more specialized hospitals, patients will continue to present at the nearest hospital, making it imperative that emergency health care workers, nurses, and doctors nationwide have more specialized training on infectious diseases like Ebola. She said the CDC should do video conference meetings with hospitals across the country to ensure that frontline health care workers and ambulance personnel, who come in contact and do the initial screening, are trained in Ebola screening and isolation procedures.

"The U.S. has thousands of hospitals, and all cannot be equally equipped to deal with Ebola," Norton said. "The national capital region has some of the best hospitals in the country, but our nurses and doctors must be prepared for walk-ins at any hospital, particularly considering that Dulles International Airport has been designated for enhanced entrance screenings. Every hospital, not just the four specialized ones, must be ready and able to rapidly isolate and diagnose cases of Ebola. This goes double for the nurses and doctors who risk their lives on the frontline each and every day."

Norton said that among the four hospitals equipped to deal with Ebola, there are only 19 beds, collectively. She said the specialized NIH unit in Bethesda has two beds, and that the infected Dallas nurse, Nina Pham, was probably transferred out of the region to keep the Atlanta hospital from being overwhelmed.

Norton said, "When Congress returns after the elections, it will ignore the underfunding of the NIH and CDC at the peril of the American public. These agencies cannot handle a new and unforeseen health emergency without additional resources."

This week, Norton cosigned a letter to House appropriators urging them to restore funding to NIH and to CDC.