Piedmont Medical Center expands Ebola prevention plans

New signs will are now in place at the entrances to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill informing patients experiencing symptoms of the Ebola virus — and who may have come in contact with people from countries known to be hotbeds for Ebola — to stop and pick up the phone before entering the facility.

Hospital spokeswoman Amy Faulkenberry said the new prevention methods are the latest — and perhaps the most public — in a series of steps to combat the deadly disease at all levels in the healthcare system. The signs direct patients to use an alternate entrance away from patient and staff entrances, where a patient can be properly triaged and prepared to be treated.

“We’re prepared to quarantine someone who comes in [with symptoms of Ebola], decontaminate them and get them in a situation where it’s safe for not only our healthcare providers and patients, but for other guests as well,” Faulkenberry said.

Faulkenberry said Wednesday that York County’s proximity to Charlotte, a city widely known as home base for a number of overseas missions, encouraged their decision to add the additional signage.

“We’re in an area where there are a lot of groups that are providing a lot of mission support in Africa,” she said. “While the whole country is talking about this…here in our area we’re probably a little more sensitive to it.”

Employees in departments from across the hospital, from EMS to housekeeping, were involved in the discussion process.

“We don’t want to expose anyone who has not already been exposed,” she said.

Similar efforts are underway at Carolinas Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte.