TRUE EBOLA HERO

Nina Pham is now a name millions of you are familiar with. Unfortunately there will need to be thousands more just like her if this virus breaks out, and so far the level of incompetence is breath-taking in our fight against this threat. 

Nina did not have to be in that room with Duncan. She volunteered. She believed she would be safe but she also knew there was a risk of contracting the virus. She adhered to the infectious disease protections that were instituted by her department. Rest assured she was scared, and when you are faced by Ebola, you obey the rules of engagement. She lost. Now she’s fighting for her life. 

The system she works in is a morass of bureaucratic obstacles designed to perpetuate the Peter Principle of mediocrity. Nina is young and believes the system would protect her. Her hospital is full of administrative nurses dressed in nice suits that walk around the halls of the hospital with clipboards in their hands smiling and chatting in between committee meetings during their busy days. Meanwhile there are fewer and fewer nurses like Nina that actually take care of the patients. The threats of termination if nurses like Nina speak out about patient care concerns always exists in hospitals today. That’s how these bureaucracies keep CONtrol. Sound familiar?  Maybe Nina had concerns maybe she didn’t, but the silence was always to be maintained for the protection of the nightmare of our Health Care system. Nina’s first concern was to care for that Ebola patient. That was her job. That was her calling and that was her chance to make her life have meaning. Most of us may never have that same chance. Some of us will and some of us will fail and find an excuse to say “let someone else do it”. 

Systems can hide their stink only so long before nature exposes it. Right now that hospital has been exposed and its breaking down. There will probably be many more examples to follow in health care if this virus breaks out. I still have hope they stop it, but its going to require some dramatic changes in their current quarantine measures. That’s going to be necessary if we get an obvious outbreak and its not going to be pretty. 

One thing seems relatively certain, there are going to be more announcements of new Ebola patients during the next few weeks in Dallas and maybe other cities. I think the markets will rollover hard if they come. There will be short squeezes and hard down days, ie volatility. Careful out there and be thankful for the real heroes out there volunteering to care for these patients.