At the conclusion of what was, overall, a good day all around, I received a bit of news at our monthly staff meeting. No, not so good news.
It seems that the mother of a recent patient of ours has an active case of extremely resistant tuberculosis. She has had the symptoms for over six months which were easily explained away by her chronic asthma and allergies…..well, actually those symptoms were classic markers for TB.
Great!
Over 50 patients were exposed during the month long stay of her baby in the NICU. They all will get treated prophylactically for the next six months because of their potentially immuno-compromised conditons related to prematurity and NICU history. Their families will be tested and followed closely as well.
78 employees have also been exposed during that 4 week period of time. This would be me. Employees exposed are to report to Occupational Health only upon receipt of notification to report to Occ Health ….not before. They will then be tested and will also be followed closely for six months and treated accordingly.
According to my boss, all of those employees exposed have been notified and tested.
?
I raise my hand and comment that I am pretty certain that not all of the employees who worked during that block of time and who directly cared for that baby have been notified. Then I grinned and pointed at myself.
Boss then replies that Occ Health is addressing this alphabetically and since my name begins with “S”, obviously, they haven’t got that far yet. She then reminds me to wait for my letter. She then stresses to us all there is no cause for alarm (um, sure there isn’t) and our first priority is to test and treat those with compromised immune systems who were under our care during that time.
Since my son has a weakened immune system due to his own extreme prematurirty and chronic lung disease, I am making an appointment asap with my own doctor. Boss agrees that if I test positive, Daniel is at risk and should be treated prophylactically according to the countydepartment of health guidelines. But I still must wait for my letter from Occ Health……sure I’ll wait!…..just until Monday morning when I call my own doctor and Daniel’s pulminologist. Guess who will be paying for these consults?
At the conclusion of what was, overall, a good day all around, I received a bit of news at our monthly staff meeting. No, not so good news.
It seems that the mother of a recent patient of ours has an active case of extremely resistant tuberculosis. She has had the symptoms for over six months which were easily explained away by her chronic asthma and allergies…..well, actually those symptoms were classic markers for TB.
Great!
Over 50 patients were exposed during the month long stay of her baby in the NICU. They all will get treated prophylactically for the next six months because of their potentially immuno-compromised conditons related to prematurity and NICU history. Their families will be tested and followed closely as well.
78 employees have also been exposed during that 4 week period of time. This would be me. Employees exposed are to report to Occupational Health only upon receipt of notification to report to Occ Health ….not before. They will then be tested and will also be followed closely for six months and treated accordingly.
According to my boss, all of those employees exposed have been notified and tested.
?
I raise my hand and comment that I am pretty certain that not all of the employees who worked during that block of time and who directly cared for that baby have been notified. Then I grinned and pointed at myself.
Boss then replies that Occ Health is addressing this alphabetically and since my name begins with “S”, obviously, they haven’t got that far yet. She then reminds me to wait for my letter. She then stresses to us all there is no cause for alarm (um, sure there isn’t) and our first priority is to test and treat those with compromised immune systems who were under our care during that time.
Since my son has a weakened immune system due to his own extreme prematurirty and chronic lung disease, I am making an appointment asap with my own doctor. Boss agrees that if I test positive, Daniel is at risk and should be treated prophylactically according to the countydepartment of health guidelines. But I still must wait for my letter from Occ Health……sure I’ll wait!…..just until Monday morning when I call my own doctor and Daniel’s pulminologist. Guess who will be paying for these consults?
At the conclusion of what was, overall, a good day all around, I received a bit of news at our monthly staff meeting. No, not so good news.
It seems that the mother of a recent patient of ours has an active case of extremely resistant tuberculosis. She has had the symptoms for over six months which were easily explained away by her chronic asthma and allergies…..well, actually those symptoms were classic markers for TB.
Great!
Over 50 patients were exposed during the month long stay of her baby in the NICU. They all will get treated prophylactically for the next six months because of their potentially immuno-compromised conditons related to prematurity and NICU history. Their families will be tested and followed closely as well.
78 employees have also been exposed during that 4 week period of time. This would be me. Employees exposed are to report to Occupational Health only upon receipt of notification to report to Occ Health ….not before. They will then be tested and will also be followed closely for six months and treated accordingly.
According to my boss, all of those employees exposed have been notified and tested.
?
I raise my hand and comment that I am pretty certain that not all of the employees who worked during that block of time and who directly cared for that baby have been notified. Then I grinned and pointed at myself.
Boss then replies that Occ Health is addressing this alphabetically and since my name begins with “S”, obviously, they haven’t got that far yet. She then reminds me to wait for my letter. She then stresses to us all there is no cause for alarm (um, sure there isn’t) and our first priority is to test and treat those with compromised immune systems who were under our care during that time.
Since my son has a weakened immune system due to his own extreme prematurirty and chronic lung disease, I am making an appointment asap with my own doctor. Boss agrees that if I test positive, Daniel is at risk and should be treated prophylactically according to the countydepartment of health guidelines. But I still must wait for my letter from Occ Health……sure I’ll wait!…..just until Monday morning when I call my own doctor and Daniel’s pulminologist. Guess who will be paying for these consults?
At the conclusion of what was, overall, a good day all around, I received a bit of news at our monthly staff meeting. No, not so good news.
It seems that the mother of a recent patient of ours has an active case of extremely resistant tuberculosis. She has had the symptoms for over six months which were easily explained away by her chronic asthma and allergies…..well, actually those symptoms were classic markers for TB.
Great!
Over 50 patients were exposed during the month long stay of her baby in the NICU. They all will get treated prophylactically for the next six months because of their potentially immuno-compromised conditons related to prematurity and NICU history. Their families will be tested and followed closely as well.
78 employees have also been exposed during that 4 week period of time. This would be me. Employees exposed are to report to Occupational Health only upon receipt of notification to report to Occ Health ….not before. They will then be tested and will also be followed closely for six months and treated accordingly.
According to my boss, all of those employees exposed have been notified and tested.
?
I raise my hand and comment that I am pretty certain that not all of the employees who worked during that block of time and who directly cared for that baby have been notified. Then I grinned and pointed at myself.
Boss then replies that Occ Health is addressing this alphabetically and since my name begins with “S”, obviously, they haven’t got that far yet. She then reminds me to wait for my letter. She then stresses to us all there is no cause for alarm (um, sure there isn’t) and our first priority is to test and treat those with compromised immune systems who were under our care during that time.
Since my son has a weakened immune system due to his own extreme prematurirty and chronic lung disease, I am making an appointment asap with my own doctor. Boss agrees that if I test positive, Daniel is at risk and should be treated prophylactically according to the countydepartment of health guidelines. But I still must wait for my letter from Occ Health……sure I’ll wait!…..just until Monday morning when I call my own doctor and Daniel’s pulminologist. Guess who will be paying for these consults?