A construction worker walks past the Surrey Memorial Hospital emergency department after the official opening in Surrey, B.C., on Tuesday October 8, 2013.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia is designating five hospitals to treat cases of Ebola in the province, but also training other health-care staff in case they have to deal with the illness.
Patients diagnosed with Ebola symptoms in clinics or hospitals outside the five facilities would be isolated and sent to the closest of the five regional hospitals for treatment, Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer, said in an interview Tuesday.
The five are: Surrey Memorial Hospital, Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital, Kelowna General Hospital, University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George and B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver, which would handle pediatric patients.
The hospitals were selected based on talks among the province's health authorities, Dr. Kendall said.
For example, Surrey Memorial got the nod because it has been undergoing a $512-million expansion over recent years that includes larger-than-usual isolation rooms, and using it would leave Vancouver General Hospital free for certain provincial treatment services it provides, he said.
Dr. Kendall said the designation of the hospitals is an important step.
"It means that we'll be very prepared, and the staff there will be very alert, and we will be able to offer the best care to anyone who ends up there," he said.
The provincial government also announced Tuesday that health-care workers are being urged to completely cover their skin in treating such cases, and to use a buddy system in which one staff member will observe the other donning and removing protective equipment to ensure there is no risk of self-contamination.
Health authorities are working to instruct staff in the new protocols described Tuesday.
In an Oct. 17 letter to health-care workers, Health Minister Terry Lake said he is mindful of concerns among those workers across the province.
"I have read your letters and I know that many of you are anxious about the safety of your patients and your fellow workers, particularly with the news from Dallas and Spain of the spread of the Ebola virus to health-care workers. I share those concerns," Mr. Lake wrote.
He assured them that health authorities would provide more information on new protocols. He also announced creation of a co-ordinating task force on Ebola co-chaired by Dr. Kendall and Lynne Stevenson, the associate deputy health minister.
Dr. Kendall said the government has not done any cost assessments for the Ebola measures.
Gayle Duteil, president of the B.C Nurses Union, said she was pleased with the government's newly announced plans for managing Ebola cases.
"It's a positive step," she said in an interview.
Nurses have been calling for such measures, she said, noting, "We did not feel that B.C. was ready."
Ms. Duteil said the nurses can look after patients, but the health authorities and government have to look after the nurses.
She said the government's response was better late than never. "You do not deal with this virus after the fact," she said. "You deal with it before it shows up in your emergency department. We cannot waste any time."
Dr. Kendall said he thinks there are now enough trained staff to deal with any case and that more are being trained each day.
He said he thinks the chances are slim that B.C. will face a case of Ebola, partly because few travellers from West Africa come to the province. Most travel, instead, to Quebec or Ontario.
"The odds of getting a case are very low," he said. "I don't think they're zero, but they're very low."
Ian Bailey