35 US hospitals designated as Ebola treatment centers

Health care workers display protective gear, which hospital staff would wear to protect them from an Ebola virus infection, inside an isolation room as part of a media tour of the emergency department of Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York October 8, 2014. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

In a press release Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that state health officials have identified and designated 35 hospitals as Ebola treatment centers, with more expected in coming weeks.

According to the statement, Ebola treatment centers have been assessed to have the staff, equipment, capabilities, resources, and training to treat a person with Ebola, while minimizing risk to health care workers.

The announcement comes following the latest death toll numbers in West Africa—  nearly 7,000 have died since the epidemic began in March.

“As long as Ebola is spreading in West Africa, we must prepare for the possibility of additional cases in the United States,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, said in the press release. “We are implementing and constantly strengthening multiple levels of protection, including increasing the number of hospitals that have the training and capabilities to manage the complex care of an Ebola patient. These hospitals have worked hard to rigorously assess their capabilities and train their staff.”

The centers were selected based on collaborative decisions with local health authorities and hospital administration, and each was assessed on-site by a CDC Rapid Ebola Preparedness team. The CDC also released guidance for states and hospitals to identify and designate an Ebola treatment center.

According to the statement, because of active monitoring from Ebola-stricken countries, “…federal health officials have a clear sense of where travelers from affected countries in West Africa are going and where Ebola treatment centers are most likely to be needed.”

The hospitals on the list supplement the biocontaiment units at Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which have treated Ebola patients in this epidemic.

The 35 hospitals with Ebola treatment centers to date are:
• Kaiser Oakland Medical Center; Oakland, Calif.
• Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center; Sacramento, Calif.
• University of Calif. Davis Medical Center; Sacramento, Calif.
• University of Calif. San Francisco Medical Center; San Francisco, Calif.
• Emory University Hospital; Atlanta, Ga.
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Chicago, Ill.
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Chicago, Ill.
• Rush University Medical Center; Chicago, Ill.
• University of Chicago Medical Center; Chicago, Ill.
• Johns Hopkins Hospital; Baltimore, Md.
• University of Maryland Medical Center; Baltimore, Md.
• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; Bethesda, Md.
• Allina Health’s Unity Hospital; Fridley, Minn.
• Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota; St. Paul, Minn.
• Mayo Clinic Hospital; Minneapolis, Minn.
• University of Minnesota Medical Center, West Bank Campus, Minneapolis;
Rochester, Minn.
• Nebraska Medicine; Omaha, Neb.
• North Shore System LIJ/Glen Cove Hospital; Glen Cove, New York
• Montefiore Health System; New York City, New York
• New York-Presbyterian/Allen Hospital; New York City, New York
• NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation/HHC Bellevue Hospital Center; New York City, New York
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital; New Brunswick, New Jersey
• The Mount Sinai Hospital; New York City, New York
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pa.
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pa.
• University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; Galveston, Texas
• Methodist Hospital System in collaboration with Parkland Hospital System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Richardson, Texas
• University of Virginia Medical Center; Charlottesville, Va.
• Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center; Richmond, Va.
• Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wis.
• Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin – Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wis.
• UW Health – University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison, and the American Family Children’s Hospital, Madison; Madison, Wis.
• MedStar Washington Hospital Center; Washington, DC
• Children's National Medical Center; Washington DC
• George Washington University Hospital; Washington DC