Ebola and Ignorance. Products vs. Solutions

For several years I have toured the country and spoken at conferences on the need for us to begin a new way of thinking.  Ahead of my time, I guess, as last year my speech entitled "Navigating the New Normal" given at the International Association of Emergency Managers EMEX show was for the most part ignored by a sparse group attempting to have personal discussions during my presentation.  Funny because this year's theme at the  IAEM Conference is "Navigating the New Normal".

Well folks, that navigation has begun and the ships are crashing into the breakers without a lighthouse.  Don't believe me? Watch CNN for 5 minutes.

Over the course of many years I have been blessed to partner with several innovative developers of solutions for the disaster market.  I do not use the word “solution” lightly.  There are many products on the market, many are good, more are not.  It is unfortunate that as I prepare to head off to another expo that I already know I will see many products that work well in a controlled environment or a lab but rarely function in the real world of disaster and chaos.

An example of the real solutions might be the FoxFury lights used by our team.  Sure, we could go and spend one third of the money but would we have a light that does its job in the heat of the moment? We have found that these lights surpass anything else on the market when you take into account reliability, ease of mobility, durability and performance all around.  This is why we use them, why we depend on them and why we recommend them… they have proven themselves to be SOLUTIONS.

Now, as I sit here at my desk putting pen to my thoughts, I am looking at my FoxFury 450nm 470nm forensic light source and kit on the shelf behind me wondering if we are really going to stop the spread of Ebola in the United States without utilizing the tools and solutions that exist...

With that explained, let’s move on to the situation at hand.

Anyone with access to cable has seen the stories regarding the need for protocols regarding the screening, admission and care of Ebola patients and potential Ebola patients.  It has pained me to see the lack of protocols and the failure of EMS and hospitals highlighted on the news when I feel that these failures are not at all the fault of those being blamed!  How can we justify attacking entities for poor handling when the proper tools were never presented to them?

Ebola is a very real threat, not just to Africa, but to the world.  It has been estimated that thousands more will contract the deadly virus before the year’s end and we can bet there will be some of those right here in the United States; after all, it was only 5 weeks ago that we were told it would NEVER be here, then when it arrived we were told it would stop with one Liberian National…

While Ebola is a real threat, as usual, ignorance is already at a pandemic level here in the States.

According to the dictionary, “ignorant” is an adjective used to describe someone with a “lack of training”, “unlearned”, “lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact” and “unaware”.

Sad that we have used the word to mean “stupid” but that is not at all its meaning.  The folks at the CDC are not stupid.  The folks at the Dallas hospital are not stupid.  Dallas Emergency Management is not stupid.  Unfortunately, they may be ignorant. Unaware.  Lacking information.

Why do I bring this up? Because as I watch the theft of dignity in airports, emergency rooms and even at an apartment complex in Dallas, I wonder why there has been no privacy barriers used like the SRN1000.  Why have patients and even suspected patients been subjected to hundreds of cameras and cell phones; why are there pictures inundating social media of people in the midst of their own personal hells?  I ask the question, at what point is the failure to provide some sort of privacy going to become a liability issue costing millions?  If my family was being transported from our apartment in the midst of a media circus, I would expect law enforcement or EMS to provide some sort of protection from the thousands of lenses and film crews.  Why is it

that a serial-killer being transported to jail is allowed a coat over his head yet we parade Ebola patients and suspected patients through what appears to be the new “disease paparazzi”?

Carl Connova and his son Phillip have a solution that has been on the market for some time.  A family owned business with a real SOLUTION.  So why are they not being used?  For over a year now, I know the reason.  Smaller companies, homegrown companies and the true innovators are being ignored or overlooked and it is time we start to pay attention to these companies more than fancy marketing campaigns and major corporate entities looking to make a million on products without any knowledge of how to offer a SOLUTION.

Let’s take this another step further…

Why wait nearly 5 days to move the family from the Dallas apartment so a private sector team can come in and clean the unit when a small company (not too far from the SRN offices in Florida) has created a broad spectrum disinfectant fogger that could have been deployed in under 20 minutes at the apartment complex?  Can the powers that be honestly now stand in a press conference and say they did “all they could”?  Of course not…they were acting in ignorance.  They were unaware that that Eco-Evolutions Halo Fogger even existed as far as I can tell.

If that was YOUR ambulance…you know, the one that transferred the first U.S. Ebola patient… wouldn’t it have been nice to know that a machine had been deployed inside and outside of it that dispersed a broad spectrum disinfectant known to kill a massive amount of complex virus’?  The day that ambulance was used a representative from a health department was featured on CNN stating that, and I quote, “wiping with bleach is the best weapon”.

To be honest, if that ambulance was in MY fire hall, I would have stopped going to work that week.

And one more thought… for over 36 hours we heard about the need for protocols on moving infected or possibly infected materials, bedding and even the body of Eric Duncan.  One of our partners, Bio-Seal, offers the very real (and possibly the only) solution to this dilemma.  This containment system can handle not only the body, but waste, bedding, personal belongings and more; and the system is mobile.

Bio-Seal has a SOLUTION that allows a facility, a responder, an EMS group, a health Department or ANY agency or personnel to create the highest level of containment for all dangerous gases and fluids associated with the transport, handling and storage of biohazardous materials in the health or death care industry. It was the Bio-Seal product that allowed the body of Duncan to be transferred safely following his death.

Again, a real SOLUTION.

So where are the challenges?  Everywhere.  How are planes being disinfected? Are travelers being screened publicly? Are patients being transported with their own press entourage? Are hospitals and EMS services doing all they can using all that is available to protect the public and responders alike?  We have just been notified that yet another Ebola patient, Amber Vinson, boarded a commercial flight from Cleveland after showing the first symptom of being infectious.  According to reports, the CDC is looking for the 132 passengers from that flight at the moment of this blog's creation.

What concerns me is that also according to the report, and I quote: "The October 13 flight was cleaned thoroughly after it landed, per our normal procedures which is consistent with CDC guidelines.  After the airline was informed of the Ebola patient, the plane was removed from service."

As I am preparing to fly several times in the next month, could we be informed as to WHO cleaned that plane and HOW?

There are real SOLUTIONS out there.  These are just a few, but I felt it was worth the time to write about them and put things into perspective.  Many of my readers work in health care, in response and in government… maybe, just maybe this blog reaches someone that is more afraid of ignorance than Ebola.

For more information about these solutions, please contact me directly through our website at www.C4LAssociates.com