I used to have hazmat and radiation worker certification. There is a right way and a wrong way to don and doff your kit. Doing it properly should reduce the risk by a huge factor. But I wouldn't say it is foolproof. Also, I don't know if there is a practical way to decontaminate the outside of the suits for ebola before taking them off. I don't think I've ever seen a doctor or nurse take off gloves properly. (Grab a pinch of glove at the base of the palm and pull your hand out, turning the glove inside out. Crumple that glove up in your gloved hand. Slip fingers under the wrist of the second glove and pull your hand out turning the glove inside out and capturing the other glove and all the nasties inside.)
The trouble with chemical and biological contamination is that it is hard to tell it is there. Most rad contamination on the other hand is very easy to detect at low levels. They say the most common places they detect contamination on rad workers is the right index finger and the right nostril.
My sister and BIL are nukers. (She's a health physicist. It's her job to keep the other workers safe and know their dose levels.) I'll have to ask them about that.
As a kind of first responder, I was interested in the case in Spain and now the case in Dallas, where nurses doing everything by the book contracted the disease. Now several representatives of nurses groups are saying that they're not getting adequate training in how to use (and most important: remove) the hazmat suits. I believe it; I can just imagine some hospital admin saying "okay I ordered the suits, now I need to book myself a trip to The Hellouta Here."
It's my assumption (now) that no one will go into an isolation ward without proper gear and training. Someone hands me a hazmat suit and says "go clean that up," I'm not about to do it until I know I'm doing everything right. Now. Maybe last week, I would have assumed I could get it right the first time.
I used to have hazmat and radiation worker certification. There is a right way and a wrong way to don and doff your kit. Doing it properly should reduce the risk by a huge factor. But I wouldn't say it is foolproof. Also, I don't know if there is a practical way to decontaminate the outside of the suits for ebola before taking them off. I don't think I've ever seen a doctor or nurse take off gloves properly. (Grab a pinch of glove at the base of the palm and pull your hand out, turning the glove inside out. Crumple that glove up in your gloved hand. Slip fingers under the wrist of the second glove and pull your hand out turning the glove inside out and capturing the other glove and all the nasties inside.)
The trouble with chemical and biological contamination is that it is hard to tell it is there. Most rad contamination on the other hand is very easy to detect at low levels. They say the most common places they detect contamination on rad workers is the right index finger and the right nostril.
As a kind of first responder, I was interested in the case in Spain and now the case in Dallas, where nurses doing everything by the book contracted the disease. Now several representatives of nurses groups are saying that they're not getting adequate training in how to use (and most important: remove) the hazmat suits. I believe it; I can just imagine some hospital admin saying "okay I ordered the suits, now I need to book myself a trip to The Hellouta Here."
It's my assumption (now) that no one will go into an isolation ward without proper gear and training. Someone hands me a hazmat suit and says "go clean that up," I'm not about to do it until I know I'm doing everything right. Now. Maybe last week, I would have assumed I could get it right the first time.
Location: i believe, i believe, it's silly, but I believe Gender:
Posted:
Oct 14, 2014 - 4:42am
helenofjoy wrote:
Well this seems to be the only place where Ebola has been mentioned on RP. It's not just in Africa anymore. I'm kind of flabbergasted at how this is playing out and by the apparent complacency being exhibited by most of us. Should be more than just interesting!
or a joke. The Ebola jokes are getting really old. So many people have lost their lives. It's awful.
Well this seems to be the only place where Ebola has been mentioned on RP. It's not just in Africa anymore. I'm kind of flabbergasted at how this is playing out and by the apparent complacency being exhibited by most of us. Should be more than just interesting!
Of all the raw and compelling voices in Joe Berlinger’s must-see documentary, “Under African Skies,” about the making of Paul Simon’s classic “Graceland” album in South Africa in 1985 — and his reunion with the same African artists 25 years later — my favorite is that of Graceland bass player Bakithi Kumalo. He tells about that day in 1985 when he met Simon in a Johannesburg recording studio:
“I was just working as a mechanic,” says Kumalo, “and one day I got this call from the boss and he said, ‘Hey, Paul Simon is in town, you know, and he’s looking for some musicians.’ And I said, ‘Paul Simon, who is Paul Simon?’ I mean I had no idea. And then the guy tried to explain to me. He’s singing all the songs. You know, like the songs from Simon and Garfunkel. And I’m like, ‘It doesn’t ring a bell.’ And then I take my bass and I go to the studio and so I meet Paul and Roy Halee, the engineer, and they’re like ‘Hey, man, let’s, you know, let’s play some.’ We’d play a chord — Paul would smile ... and then he’ll stop and change it. We didn’t know why is he changing? But he needed another part there that we didn’t know. Then he’ll break and give us different chords, and then we learned different things, and it was like going back to music school.”
Watching this film is, indeed, like going to music school and much more. For many, it will be going back to the first time they really heard the unique harmonies and rhythms of African music — thanks to “Graceland.” For some, it will be going inside the studio of one the most creative musicians of our time, watching him probing and experimenting with the styles, voices and melodies of South African musicians and melding them with chords and lyrics dancing in his own head into songs that we’ve been humming ever since. Who knew she had diamonds on the soles of her shoes?...
