Thank You for Mobilizing to Care for Our Patient Considered at Risk for Ebola Virus Disease

Dear Colleagues,

The Johns Hopkins Hospital admitted a patient on Sunday who showed symptoms that required investigation for Ebola virus disease. Our patient was cared for in isolation in the Emergency Department before being transferred to our new Biocontainment Unit, away from other units and patients. Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Baltimore City Health Department, our clinical evaluation and laboratory tests ruled out a diagnosis of Ebola. The patient will continue to be monitored and receive care before being discharged.

Many of you quickly mobilized to ensure that this patient received safe, quality care. Your teamwork and commitment enabled us to implement our detailed and thorough plan and procedures for patient care, ensuring that all of our patients, staff, faculty, trainees and visitors were as safe as possible at all times.

We greatly appreciate our highly trained and skilled staff members who know exactly how to admit and care for a patient with a highly infectious disease and how to protect themselves and others against transmitting pathogens by following enhanced precautions and using personal protective equipment.

Thanks to your individual and collective efforts, we can safely identify and care for any patient considered at risk for Ebola or other highly infectious diseases.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President
The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine