County health board OK's Ebola protocols

Quarantine and isolation measures are chief components to new Ebola protocols approved by the Flathead City-County Health Board on Nov. 20.

Nearly two months after the first case of Ebola was reported in the U.S., the board authorized Public Health Officer Joe Russell to impose quarantine and isolation on people who are suspected to be infected or have been exposed.

“It is the intent of the board to establish a procedure that will allow the Health Officer, acting on their behalf, to initiate immediate public health control measures of isolation and/or quarantine in the event that a highly pathogenic disease is suspected or identified in Flathead County,” the plan states.

Russell and assistant public health officer Hillary Hanson will have the authority to isolate or quarantine people who might have been exposed to a virulent pathogen such as the Ebola hemorrhagic virus.

Isolation would allow the suspected carrier of the disease to “be cared for in their homes, in hospitals or in designated health-care facilities.” Quarantine would be more strict, putting those who “have been exposed to an infectious agent and therefore may become infectious” in a strict confinement at a designated location.

Several board members expressed concerns at the Nov. 20 meeting about the effectiveness of past plans in other U.S. locations, including Dallas and New York City.

“Self-monitoring doesn’t work,” Columbia Falls resident and board member P. David Myerowitz said. “We have to balance protecting [the exposed person’s] privacy but also inform people who have been in contact.”

As the policy stands now, Russell or Hanson would be informed by the Centers for Disease Control if a highly pathogenic exposed person came to the Flathead. Local health officials would immediately notify the county’s board of health and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, as well as infectious disease doctors at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and North Valley Hospital.

After consulting with these sources, the plan states, “the Health Officer shall issue an order establishing the most reasonable quarantine and isolation measures that are protective of the public health.”

Russell said he understood there would be concerns, but he was confident his department would handle things better than other parts of the country.

“We don’t need the New Jersey-Maine nurse fiasco,” he said. “We will have people living in Flathead County that have been in West Africa. The best way to do this is without public knowledge.”

Hanson later explained that names or information about who in the county would be isolated or quarantined would not be made public in accordance with laws that protect patient privacy.

An Ebola protocol facility has been set up in Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s former outpatient and rehabilitation wing. The lightly-used wing has one outside entrance and one inside entrance and a separate air ventilation system from the rest of the hospital.

Dr. Jeffrey Tjaden, an infectious disease specialist for Kalispell Regional Healthcare, said preparations for Ebola at the hospital have kept everyone busy.

“We’ve trained all E.R. nurses and physicians along with critical care and myself as a specialist,” he said.

Allison Meilicke, KRMC’s public information officer, said hopefully Ebola will never come to Montana, much less to the Flathead.

“But it is good to keep on our toes,” she said. “We are a regional medical center, and people expect us to be ready.”