‘Ebola treatment centers’ now in place at 35 U.S. hospitals

Thirty-five hospitals throughout the United States are “prepared, trained and ready” to treat patients with Ebola, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola treatment centers in each of the hospitals have been “staffed, equipped and have been assessed to have current capabilities, training and resources to provide the complex treatment necessary to care for a person with Ebola while minimizing risk to health care workers,” the CDC announced on Tuesday.

State health officials made the official designation for each of the hospitals, with a CDC Rapid Ebola Preparedness team assessing each facility’s readiness for infection control, personal protective equipment use and details like handling and management of trash from each patient’s room.

More than 80 percent of travelers returning from Ebola-stricken countries live within 200 miles of one of the hospitals, the CDC reports.

The facilities will supplement the three “National Bio-Containment Facilities” at Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health – which the CDC officials say will “continue to play a major role in our overall national treatment strategy, particularly for patients who are medically evacuated from overseas.”

In the coming weeks, additional hospitals will be designated with “Ebola treatment centers” to expand geographic reach.

“As long as Ebola is spreading in West Africa, we must prepare for the possibility of additional cases in the United States,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden in a released statement.

The 35 hospitals with Ebola treatment centers include:

• Kaiser Oakland Medical Center; Oakland, California
• Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center; Sacramento, California
• University of California Davis Medical Center; Sacramento, California
• University of California San Francisco Medical Center; San Francisco, California
• Emory University Hospital; Atlanta, Georgia
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Chicago, Illinois
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Chicago, Illinois
• Rush University Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois
• University of Chicago Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois
• Johns Hopkins Hospital; Baltimore, Maryland
• University of Maryland Medical Center; Baltimore, Maryland
• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; Bethesda, Maryland
• Allina Health’s Unity Hospital; Fridley, Minnesota
• Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota; St. Paul, Minnesota
• Mayo Clinic Hospital; Minneapolis, Minnesota
• University of Minnesota Medical Center, West Bank Campus, Minneapolis;
• Rochester, Minnesota
• Nebraska Medicine; Omaha, Nebraska
• 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, Pennsylvania
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 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, Virginia
• Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center; Richmond, Virginia
• Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin – Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• UW Health – University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison, and the American Family Children’s Hospital, Madison; Madison, Wisconsin
• MedStar Washington Hospital Center; Washington, D.C.
• Children’s National Medical Center; Washington, D.C.
• George Washington University Hospital; Washington, D.C.