U.S.A.
October 20, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Texas nurse was familiar with risks of Ebola virus
HOSPITAL HOT ZONE. In this frame grab
from video provided by Texas Health Resources, Nina
Pham, who contracted Ebola after treating a Liberian
man, talks while being recorded at Texas Health Pres-
byterian Hospital in Dallas before being flown to the
National Institutes of Health outside Washington. (AP
Photo/Texas Health Resources, Dr. Gary Weinstein)
By Matt Sedensky and
Nomaan Merchant
The Associated Press
ALLAS — A Texas nurse who
caught Ebola from an infected
patient was no stranger to the
risks of working around one of the world’s
most feared viruses.
In nursing school, Nina Pham had
studied microbiology and infection
prevention. A classmate said students
discussed Ebola in detail, even reading
The Hot Zone, a bestselling 1994 book
about the disease’s origins.
Pham continued her training after
graduation, obtaining certification in
critical care two months before Ebola
arrived in the United States.
On October 14, her infection raised new
questions about whether American hospi-
tals and their staffs are adequately pre-
pared to contain Ebola. And early the next
day, Texas health officials announced that
a preliminary test indicated another
healthcare worker at the hospital, Amber
Vinson, was infected with the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and Prevention acknowledged that Pham
might not have been infected if a special
response team had been sent to Dallas
immediately after the Liberian patient
was diagnosed.
CDC director Tom Frieden said the
agency is creating an “Ebola response
team” and bolstering training nationwide
on how to respond to an Ebola case.
Pham, the first person to contract the
disease within the United States, was
among more than 70 staff members at
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in
Dallas involved in Thomas Eric Duncan’s
care before he died October 8. The
26-year-old nurse remained hospitalized
in good condition and said in a statement
that she was “doing well.”
When Pham’s mother learned her
daughter was caring for Duncan, Pham
tried to reassure her that she would be
D
safe.
Pham told her: “Mom, no. Don’t worry
about me,” family friend Christina Tran
told The Associated Press.
Duncan’s medical records, which the
family shared with The Associated Press,
show that Pham helped care for Duncan
throughout his hospital stay, including the
day he arrived in intensive care and the
day before he died.
The records make numerous mentions of
protective gear worn by hospital staff, and
Pham herself notes wearing the gear in
visits to Duncan’s room. But there is no
indication in the records of her first
encounter with Duncan, on September 29,
that Pham donned any protective gear.
Pham received her nursing degree in
2010 from Texas Christian University in
Fort Worth. A school spokeswoman and
the classmate described the curriculum.
The classmate spoke on the condition of
anonymity, saying she did not want to
infringe on Pham’s privacy.
Two nurses from Emory University
Hospital in Atlanta with special training
in Ebola care are now helping to train staff
at the Dallas hospital, Frieden said.
“I’ve been hearing loud and clear from
Arthur Dong: Forbidden City, USA
Continued from page 6
beautiful dancer named
Mary Mammon who spoke
about Asian racial stereo-
types of the time, such as
how people thought all
Asians were either cooks or
a houseboy named “John.”
Dong said she was most
aware of “what was going
on” before her and during
her lifetime in terms of
racial equality.
“They’re all my favorites
in different kinds of ways,”
Dong said. “Everybody had
something about them that
made them so unique and
exciting to be with.”
Though he found a dis-
tributor, Dong self-pub-
lished the book, just as he
has produced his films
independently. The book
has received a good amount
of notice. Lisa See, who
reached out to Dong when
she was researching her
novel, China Dolls, set in
the
Chinese-American
nightclub era, wrote the
foreword.
Dong’s current project is
finishing a film about
Haing S. Ngor (1940-1996),
the physician who won an
Academy Award for best
supporting actor in The
Killing Fields. He has
spent time archiving his
raw film material after
realizing that termites had
eaten through to his origi-
nal film stock in his store-
room. Now the voices and
film of his past projects will
be housed in the Arthur
Dong archive as part of the
film and television archive
at the University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles. He’s still
not sure where the photos
and memorabilia from the
Forbidden City, USA book
will be housed. He’s hoping
for another museum exhi-
bit similar to one he held at
the San Francisco Public
Library, but he’s not sure
what will happen to it after
that.
Dong is certain that
young people, especially
those who want to be
artists, writers, or perform-
ers, can learn from this
time period of American
history. “If you’ve got a
dream, don’t listen to your
parent or what society says
you can or can’t do. Don’t
worry about the cultural or
racial barriers. If it’s in you
and you have talent, you
have to know what you
want and go after it. It’s
nothing new. But to see
that drive embodied in Chi-
nese-American nightclubs
during the 1940s, ’50s, and
’60s, that was, and still is,
new.”
healthcare workers from around the
country that they’re worried,” said
Frieden, who also said the CDC is con-
sidering whether Ebola patients should be
transferred to one of four hospitals with
specialized bio-containment units.
Though the CDC said a breach in
protocol was probably to blame for Pham’s
infection, the man’s illness was so
complicated and rare that the risk of
transmission would have existed at any
hospital, experts said.
“Even in the best of hospitals following
all the protocol, we can minimize the risk
to hospital personnel, but we can never
eliminate it,” said Dr. David Weber, an
epidemiologist at the University of North
Carolina’s hospital.
What’s more, staff in Atlanta and
another containment unit in Omaha,
Nebraska, would have trained and drilled
for years for the possibility of such an
occurrence, and they had advance warning
of an Ebola case heading their way.
“They were notified in advance, 24, 48
hours — they had plenty of time to
prepare, they were met at the door by
people all garbed,” Weber said. “That’s a
more controlled situation than a patient
walking through the door that you think
may or may not have Ebola.”
The isolation unit at the Nebraska
Medical Center holds drills about every
three months, rotating through various
infectious diseases, including Ebola, avian
flu, smallpox, and anthrax, said Shelly
Schwedhelm, nursing and training
director of the unit.
The drills always include “an element of
personal protective equipment,” she said.
“I look at it just like I would a sport,” she
said. “Your teams practice a lot, so that
hopefully, when you get to the game,
people know what they’re doing and how to
do it and what role they play.”
Martha Kuhl, a pediatric nurse in
Oakland, California, and an officer with
National Nurses United, said the same
training and gear that helped safeguard
nurses at Emory and in Nebraska must be
offered everywhere.
Kuhl said she simply received a lengthy
e-mail about Ebola, but no other training.
“Most nurses have not been properly
prepared,” she said. “You never know
when you’re going to be approached by a
patient or family member who meets the
criteria.”
Back in Texas, people who know the
Pham family said they were part of a
closely knit, deeply religious community of
Vietnamese Catholics in Fort Worth.
The Rev. Jim Khoi, pastor at Our Lady of
Fatima Church, said Pham appeared to be
in good spirits when she spoke to her
mother, Ngoc Pham, via video chat.
Pham’s mother is “calm,” Khoi said. “She
trusts in god. And she asks for prayers.”
Associated Press writers Margery Beck
in Omaha, Nebraska and Alex Sanz in
Dallas contributed to this report.
Groundbreaking, Hawaiian blessing for telescope
HONOLULU (AP) — A groundbreaking
and
Hawaiian
blessing
ceremony
launched construction on the summit of
Mauna Kea to build one of the world’s
largest telescopes.
The events for the $1.4 billion Thirty
Meter Telescope project were shown via a
live webcast because of limited access to
the construction site, which is in an area
with harsh physical conditions.
The telescope will be able to observe
planets that orbit stars other than the sun.
It should also help scientists see some 13
billion light years away for a glimpse into
the early years of the universe.
Some people oppose building the
telescope in a place held sacred by Native
Hawaiians.
A group of Canadian and California
universities
initiated
the
project.
Institutions in China, India, and Japan
later signed on as partners.
Japan volcano victims leave
photos of last moments
Continued from page 5
“This is an amazing
photo. But I wish he had
fled instead of taking
pictures. I’d rather have
him back,” Hiromi said. “I
hope to hike up there
someday, perhaps 10 years
later. I want to see what my
husband saw.”
Yasuo Ito, 54, didn’t even
have time to eat the lunch
he packed.
His wife, also named
Hiromi, told NHK that Ito,
a prefecture-funded hous-
ing agency employee, was
among six members from a
nature conservation volun-
teer group. Only three
survived.
She identified his body
and received his ash-coated
knapsack. She pulled out a
lunchbox, which survived
despite cracks on a side,
then opened the top. His
handmade egg salad sand-
wiches were untouched.
“Poor thing, he should
have eaten this,” she said.
“He must be getting
hungry by now.”
Think you’re
an organ and
tissue donor?
Not if you haven’t
told your family.
Talk to your family about
organ and tissue donation.
Talk to your family
about donating life.
For a free donor card
brochure, contact:
Donate Life Northwest
(503) 494-7888
1-800-452-1369
www.donatelifenw.org
TALKING STORY IN
ASIAN AMERICA
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