Hershey

Anatomy of an emergency: How Penn State Hershey prepares for issues like Ebola

Ebola ranked dead last on most hospitals’ lists of “things to worry about” in early 2014. While Penn State Hershey’s infection control committee worked on a policy when the outbreak started in Africa, a patient’s arrival at a Texas hospital with the disease in late September kicked its emergency preparedness team into high gear.

“Most health care providers in the United States recognized that something like Ebola may not just stay in West Africa but could affect us here,” said Dr. Cindy Whitener, professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Penn State Hershey.

Now, the hospital has been named one of 50 planned Ebola treatment centers in the nation.

Read more about Penn State Hershey’s Ebola preparations — and how they’ve shaped preparedness for a range of public health emergencies — in this Penn State Medicine article.

Last Updated January 21, 2015