News

Austin EMS Leader Says Paramedics Not Equipped for Ebola

Philip Jankowski

11/04/2014

Nov. 04--The president of the organization representing local EMS said on Monday that the county lacks "essential planning" to respond to a pandemic outbreak and expressed little confidence on the quality of the protective gear currently available for dealing with patients exposed to Ebola.

Protective garments available to EMS are vulnerable to tears because they are too thin and because some universally-sized suits are too small for some employees, said Tony Marquardt, president of the Austin-Travis County EMS Association.

"That needs to be addressed," Marquardt said. "For interaction in our environment, working in emergency medical services, it is very easy to compromise the integrity of a very thin protective garment like the one that we currently stock for our providers."

On Monday during a meeting of the city's Public Safety Commission, Austin fire and EMS officials said they had also found that some protective garments were ocassionally too small for employees.

The emergency medicine director at University Medical Center Brackenridge said taller people with broad shoulders do need larger protective garments then the universally sized ones available.

"There's a small risk of Incredible Hulking your way out of it," Dr. Christopher Ziebell said.

Marquardt's concerns emerged after he issued a statement Monday that a committee within the EMS Association evaluated concerns over the department's readiness in light of recent Ebola cases in the United States. It determined paramedics were not adequately protected to face the disease, Marquardt said.

"Essential planning to respond to a pandemic outbreak is not available or updated," Marquardt said in the statement. "While adjustments have been made by ATCEMS in regards to the Ebola situation it is important to assess effectiveness and follow-through. This is the opportunity to adopt a proactive collaboration in preparedness rather than merely a reactive response at a time of crisis."

However, health officials at the meeting also said that even though worries over Ebola have led to a certain degree of paranoia, the actual risk of exposure in the city is very low.

Dr. Philip Huang, medical director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services, said the University of Texas student who had possibly been exposed to the disease moved out of the 21-day window at 5 p.m. Monday. She had been in a voluntary quarantine.

The health department has been closely monitoring anyone who risked exposure to the disease, including keeping close tabs on three local individuals who travelled recently to affected countries. Local health care providers have also had two suspected Ebola cases that came up negative, Huang said.