SPOKESWOMAN WISHES EBOLA INFORMATION WAS RELEASED SOONER

Denver Health said it followed protocols over Ebola scare

It took about seven hours for Denver Health to tell the public about the case. »

Denver Health officials’ ability to respond to potential public health threats was thrown into the spotlight late last month when a man’s illness spurred fears that he may have contracted the deadly Ebola virus.

And while officials say they followed protocols, there is one aspect of their response they would like to improve on: the amount of time it took Denver Health to inform the public.

It took about seven hours to get out the word that they were handling a case potentially involving an infectious disease.

“I do wish we had been able to get that out sooner,” said Jennifer Hillmann, a spokesperson for Denver Health. “But I feel like under the circumstances, what we did — we did a really good job.”

A man was taken to the hospital on July 29 after falling ill following a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was working as a medical missionary. He was placed in isolation until tests confirmed he did not have Ebola.

Congo has been struggling with the virus. The area of Congo that the man had traveled to has seen the cases of Ebola largely dissipate, but new ones have recently popped up in a different part of the country, reports The New York Times.

The patient was transported to the facility at about 8:30 a.m. by ambulance, but Denver Health did not send out a press release notifying the public of the case until about 3:30 p.m., Hillmann said.

“If I had to look back on it now, I would have liked to have sent the press release out a little earlier,” she said.

The difficulty in doing so, Hillmann said, was that Denver Health coordinated with multiple agencies on assessing the risk of the situation and wanted to be able to present enough information about the case as to not cause panic in the community.

The Denver case brought flashbacks to when Ebola slipped into the U.S. four years ago during an outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The 2014 outbreak resulted in more than 28,600 cases and more than 11,300 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

Ebola is a rare and deadly disease that can bring on symptoms such as fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue and stomach pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected animals or people, which is why health officials acted to try to contain the vi-

rus by also putting the ambulance crew that transported the patient into precautionary isolation. Ambulances were also temporarily diverted away from the hospital after the patient arrived.

Health officials also searched for another person who may have had contact with the man, with Steamboat Pilot & Today reporting that a Greyhound bus passing through Steamboat Springs was briefly stopped because officials thought a person on board could have had contact with the patient in Denver.

“Denver Health quickly and successfully implemented protocols to ensure optimal management of the patient and safety of other patients and staff,” said Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, one of the agencies involved.

“This event demonstrated strong, ongoing collaboration between all partners, including the hospital, state health department, Denver Public Health and the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment,” he said in the emailed statement.

Denver Health workers are trained to handle infectious diseases, and its hospital is designated by the CDC as one of 10 facilities in the nation that can handle Ebola patients.

Hillmann said Denver Health is already holding debriefings to discuss how it handled the Ebola case.

“We followed our established protocols and all Denver Health staff responded efficiently and effectively; however, we use every opportunity we can to learn and improve,” she said in a later statement. “We will have several debriefings to review every aspect of our response, and will certainly be open to finding new ways to refine it.”