Health Team

H1N1 helped Triangle hospitals prepare for the next pandemic

WRAL asked WakeMed, Duke and UNC hospitals how they prepare for possible pandemics like what is happening in China with the coronavirus.

Posted Updated

By
Mandy Mitchell
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — As the death toll in China rises from the coronavirus, WRAL wanted to check in with area hospitals to see how they are preparing for a possible pandemic from this or any other illness that may pop up in the future.

"We heard the first little rumblings the last day or so in December," said Cameron Wolfe, infectious disease physician at Duke University Hospital. "What it triggered was a series of meetings that had really been happening in the background since H1N1."

H1N1, a strain of flu with an outbreak about a decade ago, was a learning experience for hospitals, Duke in particular. Those lessons have carried into this preparation.

"I think we are well set up. This is a situation where we would use negative pressure rooms. Negative pressure rooms are used in a hospital settings for things that can easily be passed through respiratory secretions or airborne things," Wolfe said.

All three major hospital systems in the Triangle have permanent negative pressure rooms, which allow ventilation without letting air escape the room.

UNC has 143, Duke has more than 100 and WakeMed has 108.

Each hospital also has a plan to expand and create temporary negative pressure rooms if needed.

"If we ever had a true pandemic in the United States – which I don't think this will turn in to – then we would have plans where we would take over an entire unit or an entire building capable of housing patients that are highly communicable," said Dr. David Weber who is the director of infectious disease prevention at UNC Hospitals.

UNC and Duke hospitals would also have access to university resources like dorm rooms and classrooms in the event of a true pandemic.

And all of the systems in the state would communicate and work together to share experts and resources.

"On a lot of other things we may compete as healthcare systems but when it comes to taking care of patients, when it comes to taking care of our community, there really is no competition but cooperation," said Barbara Bisset, WakeMed director of preparedness and innovation.

Local hospitals are also taking advantage of grant money received after the 2014 Ebola outbreak which allowed them to ramp up planning for infectious disease situations.

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