Rick Perry: From Zero to S**t Wired TightSay what you want about Governor Goodhair, he has jumped on ebola with both feet and intends to stomp it to death with his Naconas.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/prognosis/article/Texas-Ebola-plans-from-Gov-Perry-s-task-force-5837052.phpPerry announces procedure for potential future Ebola cases:
Governor Rick Perry announced Tuesday that any future Ebola cases will be treated at UTMB Galveston or at Methodist Richardson. Patients in Richardson would see UT Southwestern doctors and have their lab work done at Parkland's lab. WFAA's Janet St. James also reports that Parkland will provide a 50-person unit for quick Ebola response. Perry says the new setups will be ready in the next 24 hours. The new facilities are part of a plan by the newly formed Texas Task Force on Infectious Diseases, led by Dr. Brett Giroir(1).
• UT Southwestern Medical Center is contributing the expertise of physicians experienced in infectious disease, critical care and other specialties, and some nursing professionals as staffing requires.
• Methodist Health System is allowing the use of an entire floor of the Methodist Campus for Continuing Care in Richardson, including an ICU wing well suited for the care of infectious disease patients. They will provide some modifications for the critical steps of decontamination, laboratory equipment and other dedicated personnel for IT and biomedical support. Ebola and/or other infectious disease patients can be safely isolated
• Parkland Hospital has already begun transferring critical equipment such as personal protective equipment, IV fluids and laboratory supplies to the Methodist facility. In addition, Parkland will provide nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists and lab technicians.
More at the linky.
This makes sense, all the way around.
Methodist Richardson is one of the smaller hospitals both in the Methodist system and in N Texas. 18 bed ER & 125 beds elsewhere. If they have to shut everything else down to service ebola patients and collateral damage, it won't take out a huge chunk of the N Texas medical infrastructure like what happened at Presby Dallas. Damn good idea.
UTSW docs & nurses work at Parkland, the monster county hospital renowned for trauma surgery and all that jazz. Yes, some are baby docs, but the older docs there have beau coup experience.
Parkland has both large trauma and medicine (non-trauma) ICUs and their ICU trauma step-down is equivalent to most hospital's ICU. Parkland also has deep resources in all the other aspects of hospital/health care.
I am not familiar with UTMB Galveston, but I assume it is the big public hospital down there south on the Gulf coast.
Smart folk have put some serious thought into this. My respect for Perry gone up a few notches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ojTKkfgvwvU#t=12(1)
Not a political fixer. CEO of Texas A&M Health Science Center. As a doc he specialized in infectious diseases. Also worked for mf-ing DARPA. Perry chose a no-s**t
Top Man to run his Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. BHO, were he educable, could learn something from this. Once again Texas A&M will save the world. Or at least keep it from sliding into a New Dark Age.