Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=56596
ER panic: Child's death prompts review of protocols
By T.M. Shultz, The Daily Courier
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A child's death from meningococcal disease caused panic at the Verde Valley Medical Center recently where most of the people who came in direct contact with the child went for preventative antibiotics a few days later.
People directly exposed to the child's saliva needed immediate treatment with antibiotics because of how fast the disease -- a highly contagious form of blood poisoning - progresses, county officials said.
The issue came up at Tuesday's meeting of the Yavapai County Community Health Services board of directors when Judy Moeser - board president and a registered nurse at the Verde Valley Medical Center, who was on duty the night the county began contacting people - asked YCCHS director Robert Resendes for the county's help in figuring out a better way to handle such situations in the future. She was especially concerned about providing reassurance, because so many people came in thinking they needed treatment.
"Because of people's fears, counseling and support had to be provided," Moeser said. "They were panic-struck. People were angry. So we had to deal with that."
Both Resendes and Moeser agreed that the recent situation was the first real test of how the county and area hospitals might react in the event a large number of people needed treatment for an illness.
"This obviously was a pandemic of one but (it was) a little window into the chaos and the panic that can happen," said Dr. Bill Thrift, who also sits on the board.
Board officials declined to identify the child further for privacy reasons.
Moeser said the medical center has a committee reviewing the incident and Resendes offered to have a county representative go to the committee meetings.
County epidemiologist Stephen Everett said he got a call from the county medical examiner at 4:30 p.m. on a recent Friday after lab results came in on the child.
Everett then called about 50 people who may have had direct contact with the child's saliva. Not all of the 50 people needed antibiotics, but many of them did. And because the county does not have the medicine or the capability to treat the public for something like this, Resendes explained, and because it happened on a weekend, the county told people needing treatment to go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital, which was Verde Valley Medical Center. The county will pay the bills of people needing treatment who did not have health insurance.
Emergency medical responders, police and hospital personnel who treated the child also needed antibiotic treatment.
Resendes said he would ask the county's threat assessment committee to tackle the problem of how to handle future situations in which there might be panic. He said that in most cases requiring a massive response the federal government would step in and take over.
Everett said the county usually gets only about one case of meningitis a year. This was the first case in at least six years in which the patient died, he added.
People in the waiting room of the emergency department when the child arrived were not at risk, Everett stressed.
Most of the people showing up for treatment that Friday and Saturday went into a large trauma room, Moeser said, but they had so many questions that having someone designated to deal with just those people would have been helpful.
Moeser said the emergency room that night was dealing with three serious trauma cases and did not have the staff to deal with all the concerns of the people who came for antibiotic treatment.
Even people who did not need treatment were showing up demanding treatment, she said. Everett said he took "panic" calls from a number of people who thought they needed treatment, but did not.
Moeser said that despite the confusion that night, "I'm pretty proud of how it was handled. It was an incredible evening. I'm just kind of scared (if it happens again.)"
And, she said, "I think it will happen again."
Contact the reporter at tshultz@prescottaz.com
ER panic: Child's death prompts review of protocols
By T.M. Shultz, The Daily Courier
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A child's death from meningococcal disease caused panic at the Verde Valley Medical Center recently where most of the people who came in direct contact with the child went for preventative antibiotics a few days later.
People directly exposed to the child's saliva needed immediate treatment with antibiotics because of how fast the disease -- a highly contagious form of blood poisoning - progresses, county officials said.
The issue came up at Tuesday's meeting of the Yavapai County Community Health Services board of directors when Judy Moeser - board president and a registered nurse at the Verde Valley Medical Center, who was on duty the night the county began contacting people - asked YCCHS director Robert Resendes for the county's help in figuring out a better way to handle such situations in the future. She was especially concerned about providing reassurance, because so many people came in thinking they needed treatment.
"Because of people's fears, counseling and support had to be provided," Moeser said. "They were panic-struck. People were angry. So we had to deal with that."
Both Resendes and Moeser agreed that the recent situation was the first real test of how the county and area hospitals might react in the event a large number of people needed treatment for an illness.
"This obviously was a pandemic of one but (it was) a little window into the chaos and the panic that can happen," said Dr. Bill Thrift, who also sits on the board.
Board officials declined to identify the child further for privacy reasons.
Moeser said the medical center has a committee reviewing the incident and Resendes offered to have a county representative go to the committee meetings.
County epidemiologist Stephen Everett said he got a call from the county medical examiner at 4:30 p.m. on a recent Friday after lab results came in on the child.
Everett then called about 50 people who may have had direct contact with the child's saliva. Not all of the 50 people needed antibiotics, but many of them did. And because the county does not have the medicine or the capability to treat the public for something like this, Resendes explained, and because it happened on a weekend, the county told people needing treatment to go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital, which was Verde Valley Medical Center. The county will pay the bills of people needing treatment who did not have health insurance.
Emergency medical responders, police and hospital personnel who treated the child also needed antibiotic treatment.
Resendes said he would ask the county's threat assessment committee to tackle the problem of how to handle future situations in which there might be panic. He said that in most cases requiring a massive response the federal government would step in and take over.
Everett said the county usually gets only about one case of meningitis a year. This was the first case in at least six years in which the patient died, he added.
People in the waiting room of the emergency department when the child arrived were not at risk, Everett stressed.
Most of the people showing up for treatment that Friday and Saturday went into a large trauma room, Moeser said, but they had so many questions that having someone designated to deal with just those people would have been helpful.
Moeser said the emergency room that night was dealing with three serious trauma cases and did not have the staff to deal with all the concerns of the people who came for antibiotic treatment.
Even people who did not need treatment were showing up demanding treatment, she said. Everett said he took "panic" calls from a number of people who thought they needed treatment, but did not.
Moeser said that despite the confusion that night, "I'm pretty proud of how it was handled. It was an incredible evening. I'm just kind of scared (if it happens again.)"
And, she said, "I think it will happen again."
Contact the reporter at tshultz@prescottaz.com