N.J.’s designated Ebola hospitals gain little in short term
OCTOBER 25, 2014, 11:36 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2014, 11:42 PM
BY MARY JO LAYTON AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Medical centers strive to be the region’s cancer expert, leading pediatric institution or renowned cardiac center.
But the state’s Ebola hospital?
Last week, Governor Christie designated Hackensack University Medical Center and two other New Jersey hospitals as the primary treatment centers for potential cases in New Jersey, a move to calm an increasingly anxious public after a few false alarms in the state and a confirmed case in New York City.
The hospitals, which include Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and University Hospital in Newark, volunteered for the mission, state officials said.
The designation has the potential of burnishing the reputations of the three institutions, earning them medical accolades and research grants. But it also could create fear among other patients who might not want to be in the same facility as Ebola patients and result in declining traffic in emergency rooms and elective surgeries, experts say. And if there is a misstep with an Ebola patient, the hospital might not recover.
“In the short run, some people are going to think twice while the hysteria is still running,” said Donald Malafronte, a longtime New Jersey health consultant and president of the non-profit Urban Health Institute.
“But that hysteria will abate, and it will leave three hospitals with reputations for highly specialized infectious disease treatment,” Malafronte said. “When Ebola is a distant memory, the reputation of those three hospitals is enhanced.”
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