The United States has just four Ebola-equipped hospitals. One of those is in Bethesda, Maryland, and Nina Pham is being transferred to there from Texas Presbyterian today.
DALLAS — Nina Pham will be transferred from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas to a hospital in Bethesda, Md., family members confirmed Thursday morning.
A 26-year-old nurse, Pham was the first person to contract Ebola on U.S. soil.
Family confirmed they didn’t request the move. Sources say the decision was made due to staffing issues at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The family says they’re OK with the move.
Pham will surely get the best care there. She has been given a blood transfusion from Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly and is reported to be doing well. She has even Skyped with family from the Dallas hospital.
The staff issues that WFFA’s story mentions but doesn’t detail are very serious.
Ebola puts a heavy burden on hospitals. It takes about 20 full-time and fully trained and fully protected ICU staff to care for just one Ebola patient. Texas Presbyterian reportedly had to ship several ICU patients to other area hospitals while it cared for Thomas Duncan, because of the staffing issues that Ebola creates and for the safety of those other patients. If Texas Presbyterian doesn’t send Pham and Vinson to other, Ebola-ready hospitals, its ICU is effectively shut down. And Pham and Vinson would not get the best care that is available.
Three of the four Ebola-ready hospitals currently have Ebola patients, or will once Pham arrives in Maryland. She will be there, Vinson is now at the one in Georgia, and NBC photographer Ashoka Mukpo is at the one in Nebraska. That just leaves the one in Missoula, Montana without an Ebola patient.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member