Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth nurses on flight with Dallas Ebola patient, on paid leave
October 15, 2014 at 8:19 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nurses from the Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth Medical Center were among those on the Frontier Airlines flight with Dallas Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson and are now on paid leave while their health is monitored for possible symptoms, the two health systems said in a joint news release this evening.
The 13 nurses were on the Oct. 10 flight from Dallas to Cleveland with Vinson, who came to the Northeast Ohio area to see family in Tallmadge and help plan a wedding. She returned to Dallas on another Frontier airlines flight on Oct. 13 and was hospitalized the following morning with a fever.
Five Cleveland Clinic nurses were on the flight, according to Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil. They will remain on leave at least 21 days, she said. A total of eight MetroHealth nurses were also on the flight, according to the health system. MetroHealth is holding a news conference Thursday at 9:30 a.m. to answer questions about the situation.
Here is the joint statement from the Clinic and MetroHealth:
"Today, we learned that Cleveland Clinic and The MetroHealth System had employees – mostly nurses – aboard the Frontier flight from Dallas to Cleveland on October 10, returning from a nursing conference in Texas. That flight included the Dallas nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola when she returned to Dallas on October 13.
"Both health systems have put all of our employees who were on that flight on paid leave while we will monitor their health daily. We are confident that these nurses are at low risk of exposure since we understand that the Dallas nurse did not have symptoms at the time. We have taken this measure as an extra precautionary step for our employees, patients, and visitors.
"Cleveland Clinic, The MetroHealth System, and University Hospitals will be working closely together to keep our community safe and to work toward preventing the spread of the Ebola virus."
http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/10/cleveland_clinic_metrohealth_n.html#incart_maj-story-1
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