Cooperation helped contain virus outbreak
I want to thank our employees, medical staff, volunteers and the public for their help in dealing with the norovirus outbreak in our community.
A few weeks ago, our alert infectious disease staff noticed a small number of patients on a single unit with stomach flu. A test confirmed that it was the highly contagious norovirus. Growing numbers of people with the same symptoms sought treatment at our emergency departments. Because norovirus is so highly contagious, we took additional measures to keep the virus from being transmitted within our hospitals. We notified the Public Health Department and other area hospitals. We also informed the media and the public -- asking visitors to avoid coming to our hospitals if they had been sick recently and to wash their hands when entering or leaving our facilities.
While norovirus itself is not deadly, people fighting illness or recovering from surgery didn't need three days of stomach flu. The informed public, our employees, volunteers and medical staff successfully cooperated to protect these patients.
The number of new cases is now a trickle. We hope the outbreak has burned itself out. Health care is a community responsibility, and we appreciate the help of all involved.
Tim Rice
Greensboro
The writer is president and CEO, Moses Cone Health System.
Comments (4)
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What is weird to me is that the only place I heard about the norovirus was at the hospitals. You'd think with such a "highly contagious" virus, it would be everywhere.
Posted on March 1, 2007 10:09 AM
nit, I agree to a point. I do know that Friends Home-Guilford was infected. Many of the residents were ill, including some of my friends there.
At least it was contained at the hospitals!
Shalom
Posted on March 1, 2007 10:59 AM
There's a round of it going about NW Greensboro, especially in the Western Guilford High district.
Posted on March 2, 2007 10:08 AM
Is it a new form of advertising for Mr. Rice to produce a ltte every month or so? By keeping the name of MCH in the newspaper with a positive comment associated, it would seem to promote a "We care" illusion.
The reason I have noticed more than one letter by him is he is the one I addressed a long letter of complaint to re my treatment while a patient at MCH and never had it acknowledged in any way. It took me a long time to fill out that patient form and to have no feedback makes me think they don't bother to read them. I feel my concerns were totally ignored and this has resulted in a very negative impression of that hospital.
Posted on March 2, 2007 10:47 AM