The most deadly killers on this earth are too small to see with the naked eye. These microscopic predators are viruses. Ebola virus is now in the United States and maybe even in my community. My claim is to find out what my community, Fort bliss hospitals and local hospitals are doing in case of an outbreak. The Ebola virus is a deadly disease that appeared in Africa during the 1970s. The virus causes massive bleeding and destroys the internal tissues of the victim. The virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in Zarie now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa were the virus was first found.
Three types of the Ebola virus have been found in Africa mainly in central Africa. The strain Ebola Zarie is the most deadly of the three. In March 2014, West Africa suffered from the most deadly epidemic disease, Ebola since it was discovered in 1976. The disease is growing exponentially in West Africa. The often fatal Ebola disease has no medical vaccine to cure the disease. In a world knit together by planes, ships and cargo ships, failure to control Ebola in West Africa means more cases in other countries including America. As travelling is rapid in today’s world Ebola virus can definitely travel from one country to another.
Ebola is taking different unknown routes to cross the border of new countries. As fear of spreading is getting higher international community is steeping up to provide medical help and other assistance to combat this disease. In my community local hospitals and army base Fort bliss get prepared in case of an outbreak. We do have an international airport here; we are right on the border, so travel from outside the country occurs with many visitors coming from other parts of the world. Not to mention another reason for being prepared is the deployment of soldiers from Fort bliss to West Africa.
Troops from Fort Bliss will be isolated for twenty-one days after their return from West Africa. They will be housed in barracks separated from the rest of the army post. They will be quarantined at Fort bliss and monitored to keep the spread of the deadly virus. “We are fully equipped, trained and prepared to receive these service members,” said Lt. Col. Lee Peters, a spokesman from Fort Bliss. I am a military dependent and I’ve been to Fort bliss recently I had a doctor’s appointment, since I was there I went ahead and interviewed my nurse practioner, he’s name is Jonathan Adin Sinnott NP ,but before I did I had noticed he asked me some questions before my checkup.
The questions he asked were new to me since the last time I had been there. He asked “Have you been in contact with anyone with the Virus Ebola in the last 30 days? ” the next question he asked was, “Have you been out of the country mainly to West Africa in the past months? He had never asked me these questions before so I went ahead and asked him some questions as well since I am currently majoring in nursing and I needed some knowledge, something new to learn. He had said they have been training and doing different things then normally, everyone on post had been getting ready in case of an outbreak. El Paso and Fort bliss is one of the 20 quarantine stations for infectious diseases.
I have seen the barracks it is isolated from others no one can go over there. There are army tents around and they are in quarantine. In local news, El Paso times had just recently came out with an article, ‘El Paso is ready for Ebola, local hospitals prepare. ” “ The City of El Paso department of public health is working closely with local, state and federal authorities to assure that the many health partners throughout our region are current and coordinated in their efforts to protect the public from all types of infectious diseases which may reach our city”, according to a city health department news release.
Ebola can easily transmit within hospital and clinics where hospital staffs aren’t covering their body parts with protective wear, gloves, mask and eye protection. Hospitals are preparing Las Palmas Del Sol healthcare is conducting “full simulation protocols at each hospital,” in addition to normal process and training in place to handle any infectious disease, said Dr. Henry Costa, disease specialist at Las Palmas.
If the recommended protocols and trainings are followed, our healthcare workers and community should be safe. Robert Resendes the city’s health director, has asked the community not to panic they have plans for all kind of communicable diseases. “we need to apply some science against the panic and concerns. “As of yet, we have no true positive diagnosis of Ebola in El Paso,” Resendes said. I agree with city’s health director. I believe from my evidence and research that El Paso is ready and if the community and healthcare workers do the recommended protocols and trainings that have been trained we will handle this infectious disease. I don’t think the city of El Paso should panic about the situation.
I’ve learned that there plans are applicable with whatever disease. Everything is going to be fine in our community. I’m glad we are on top of things, this makes me want to graduate and be a nurse already to help others in the community and give knowledge to people who have concerns and show them panic is the least of our worries we are ready, with the help of people in our city. Something like this could kill and that’s the least we want for our world as long as we are ready everything will be fine.
Works Cited Borunda, Daniel. “Fort Bliss to be isolation site for troops returning from Ebola mission. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (November 7, 2014 Friday ): 763 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. Flores, Aileen. “Officials say El Paso is ready for Ebola, local hospitals prepare. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (October 18, 2014 Saturday ): 1490 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. Valdez, Diana. “El Paso ready if Ebola were to reach borderland, city health officials tell council. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (October 21, 2014 Tuesday ): 477 words.
LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. Annotated Bibliography Borunda, Daniel. “Fort Bliss to be isolation site for troops returning from Ebola mission. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (November 7, 2014 Friday ): 763 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. Fort Bliss will be one of five U. S. military installations where troops will be isolated for 21 days after returning from missions fighting the spread of Ebola in Africa. Nearly 1,800 troops, including about 75 soldiers from Fort Bliss, are already in West Africa as part of Operation United Assistance, the U. S. military mission to provide medical, logistical and security support to the countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.
Flores, Aileen. “Officials say El Paso is ready for Ebola, local hospitals prepare. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (October 18, 2014 Saturday ): 1490 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. El Paso times is referring to the Ebola virus in this article I will use this as a source for my research paper because it has a lot of information that I could use for this paper. As the Ebola virus spreads fear throughout the nation, hospitals in El Paso are preparing to test, treat and quickly isolate anyone who might meet the criteria for Ebola exposure. Valdez, Diana.
“El Paso ready if Ebola were to reach borderland, city health officials tell council. ” El Paso Times (Texas). (October 21, 2014 Tuesday ): 477 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2014/11/10. Health officials address the City Council because members of the public kept asking if the city was prepared, and particularly because Fort Bliss soldiers are being deployed to West Africa to assist with efforts to control the Ebola outbreak in that region. “Ebola in El Paso? It’s an extreme long shot,” Residents said.