Hamilton Health Sciences would handle potential Ebola patients

Hamilton Health Sciences is one of 10 facilities across the province designated as a referral hospital to treat potential Ebola cases.

Minister of Health Eric Hoskins made the announcement Friday in Toronto.

CHCH News visited the Hamilton General Hospital to see how they would handle an Ebola case, suspected or real.

Officials at the General say they are still working out all of the details after todays announcement.

They expect to know more next week, including which of the hospitals under the Hamilton Health Sciences umbrella would be taking any suspected case of Ebola.

They did provide a demonstration with the enhanced protective gear that would be used.

They say the first and arguably one of the most important steps is hand sanitizer.

That is followed up by putting on foot covers that go up to the knee.

Then the healthcare workers puts on one of the newly recommended gowns, which needles and body fluids can’t penetrate, and ties it at the neck and waist.

Next is putting on one of the n95 protective masks added to the protocols today. They have an enhanced air filter.

After the mask is secured a protective head covering is put on followed by a face shield.

The final step in the personal protective gear is not one, but two sets of gloves.

Then its up to the designated buddy to check for gaps in the gear and fix any openings.

The whole process takes about five minutes.

Kristen Krull from Hamilton Health Sciences says the new protocols are top of mind for staff.

“Many of our efforts right now are to make sure people are getting the education they need and practicing with taking the personal protective gear on and off. I know there will probably be a bit of collaboration between the centres because we want to make sure we’ve got standardization when we are doing practices and making sure they are the best practices.”