Oct. 23, 2014: JHM Ebola Preparedness Update #3

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine community

Dear Colleagues,

As news about the Ebola virus continues to dominate the headlines, infectious disease and business leaders across the institution are working tirelessly to ensure that our staff, faculty, students, patients and visitors are as safe as possible at all times.

We have been working across all our campuses to refine protocols, provide training for health care staff and participate in rigorous simulations to test and adjust our procedures based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

We want to make you aware that the CDC released revised guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE) on Oct. 20. This guidance focuses on the importance of training, practice and observation of the correct donning and doffing of the personal protective equipment. Johns Hopkins Medicine has supported and advocated for the use of PPE based on the CDC guidelines. With the new guidelines, those of you trained with N95 masks and face shields will be adding a hood. Each hospital will provide with information on how to update your training.  

Although there currently are no patients with Ebola at any JHM facility, we have a detailed and thorough plan for patient care and protecting staff that will be implemented quickly. We recognize, however, that many of you may still have questions. To address those concerns, each of our sites and hospitals continue to hold face-to-face town meetings to give updates and answer questions about local Ebola preparedness. Two such sessions took place yesterday for employees at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Please take a moment to view this informative video from yesterday's town meeting.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has considerable expertise and experience with infectious diseases, global health, emerging infectious diseases and infection prevention. Many of our nationally renowned experts specializing in hospital emergency and preparedness have been sharing their expertise with local and national media. You can view our interviews and media coverage on our Ebola website.

We also encourage you to regularly visit the Ebola website. It is a valuable source of information about our preparations, provides answers to commonly asked questions and dispels many of the myths surrounding the Ebola virus disease.

Thank you for all that you're doing to ensure a safe environment for each other, our patients and for our community. We will continue to keep you informed of the significant measures JHM has in place to ensure that we are fully prepared to safely screen, evaluate, and treat patients suspected of having Ebola.

Sincerely,

Gabor D. Kelen, M.D.
Director, Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response
Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
Emergency Physician-in-Chief, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Trish M. Perl, M.D., M.Sc.
Professor of Medicine and Pathology
Senior Epidemiologist, Johns Hopkins Medicine