New York Hospitals Prepare for Ebola

New York area hospitals had been establishing protocol and communicating with staff members about how to handle the potential spread of Ebola even before a patient was admitted Monday to Mount Sinai Hospital with symptoms associated with the virus.

The man remained in stable condition at Mount Sinai, where officials have said it was unlikely he had the disease. A blood sample taken from him arrived Tuesday afternoon at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Authorities said it takes 24 to 48 hours to confirm whether a blood sample is positive for the disease.

Officials wouldn't identify the man, who recently had returned from West Africa.

The CDC issued guidelines over the weekend that instructed hospitals to immediately isolate patients who exhibited flulike symptoms and also reported recent travel in West Africa. The guidelines were passed on to New York hospitals by the New York State Department of Health.

"One thing we've learned in the modern world is that we're an airplane ride away from any illness, anywhere," said Guthrie Birkhead, the state's deputy commissioner of public health. He noted that communication was a critical way to prevent the spread of infectious disease. "Our lines of communication and coordination are well laid out."

I wonder why?

Why do hospitals feel they have to fill the empty spaces on the walls with paintings and expensive graphics?

Our  local hospital had hundreds of them, if there is a blank wall, hang a painting. They must have thousands of dollars hanging on the walls. Couldn't that waste of money be put to better use. It they took that money, along with the postage they spend every day, they could take care of a lot of their bills.

Up in the Anticoagulation department, well, that word bugs me too, there is NO such word, it is two words, anti meaning against, and coagulation meaning ............ (The process of changing from a liquid to a gel or solid state by a series of chemical reactions, especially the process that results in the formation of a blood clot.) ... so it seems to like that department is against that. I have brought that misspelled word to their attention, some agree with me, most don't care. Anyway, in that hallway, three paintings and one large, expensive graphic, just in that one short hallway. My wife visits that department once a month to have her checkup.

Paintings must be for the visitors, patients are too sick to care, they are in their rooms, with their TV's, so all that money spent on visitors, to impress them, I guess. Maybe the hospital administration thinks it makes them look good to have all that artwork around, like hospital costs are high enough.

I am also not sure the breakdown on the rooms, those for patients and those used as offices. My guess is the  number of patients rooms gets smaller each month. When it gets too low, they do an "addition" to the hospital.

Gotta be a bundle .....

I wonder how much money is spent ..... EACH DAY, on POSTAGE, by Hospitals, Doctors, Insurance Companies and Health Related mailings. If we figured out another way of billing we could almost ALL get FREE HEALTH INSURANCE on the savings.

We  get as many as four or five envelopes EACH DAY from our local hospital, only got three today, along with an expensive newsletter from our local hospital.. Seems like the older I get, the more my life revolves around Doctors, Hospitals and health related agencies, and they all send out tons of mail.

Wonder what their postage bill really is?