WakeMed practices for Ebola
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Triangle-area hospitals are practicing for the possibility they could be confronted with an Ebola case.
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At WakeMed in Raleigh, classes for staffers on how to put on safety equipment and proper contamination containment have been going on about twice a week since September.
Some procedures have already changed as they watch and learn from what's happening at other hospitals.
The training itself is more of a classroom setting where doctors, nurses, and support staff are instructed on how to assemble, put on, and take off their protective gear.
Just as there's an instructor present in the classroom, there will be designated trained staff present in a real-life scenario, too, to make sure that precise step-by-step instructions are followed.
"We know that one of the most important procedures is how you put on your protective gear and how you take it off, particularly how you take it off, because we know in the transmission of the disease that seems to be a common area where people can get contaminated," explained Executive Director of Emergency Services Barbara Bisset.
To help illustrate that point, staff had invisible powder placed on their hands and then they were checked with a black light to see if it spread to their skin or clothes under the protective gear.
And that's one change they've made just this week. Instead of being able to wear their street clothes under their special suits, they'll have to take those off and put on scrubs prior to getting dressed as a further precaution.
