The death of the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed in the United States and the infection of two nurses has placed Texas Presbyterian Hospital in the spotlight. BuzzFeed News looks at how the embattled facility is trying to regain its reputation.
Cole Edmonson, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital chief nursing officer, and other employees during a news conference on Oct. 20.
AP Photo/LM Otero
DALLAS — October has not been kind to Texas Presbyterian Hospital.
Ever since the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed in the United States arrived at the Dallas hospital late last month, the facility has waged an uphill battle of public relations.
"Presby" as it is affectionately known, immediately became a symbol of how healthcare providers in the United States may be unprepared to handle the virus that has killed nearly 5,000 people in West Africa.
Now, the hospital, which received close to the national average scores in most categories when it was last reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, is trying to convince the nation that it remains a safe, competent place. And it is doing so largely through social media.
Facebook and Twitter posts — mostly with the hashtag #PresbyProud — began sprouting up on Oct. 2. Some of them appear to be heartfelt expressions of anger, wounded pride, and mutual support on the part of individual members of the hospital staff. But other posts feature high production values and are heavily branded with the hospital's logo — which, as The Guardian reported, suggests a coordinated public relations campaign.
Burson-Marsteller, the New York-based public relations firm retained to handle the media firestorm surrounding the hospital, told BuzzFeed News that the hashtag was started independently by an individual member of the hospital staff and that there was "no coordinated effort" to use it.
Whatever the provenance of the hashtag, the posts provide a window into a hospital in crisis. Presbyterian stands to lose millions of dollars if it cannot regain the confidence of the public. It also faces a potential labor conflict, as disgruntled members of its non-unionized workforce appeared to have reached out to National Nurses United, the largest health care worker's union in the United States.
But even though the story's protagonists have taken to the internet to voice their concerns, in real life they remain stubbornly silent.
BuzzFeed News reached out for comment to more than a dozen nurses at Presbyterian — in person, over the phone, and through social media. Every one declined requests for comment. The hospital's public relations office also did not return requests for comment.
All of which raises the question of who, exactly, is #PresbyProud?
It all began on Sept. 25, when Thomas Eric Duncan, who had just arrived in Texas from Liberia, showed up at Presbyterian's emergency room complaining of a fever — and was soon turned away.
Duncan returned to the hospital on Sept. 28, with worsened symptoms. Two days later, the Centers for Disease Control confirmed he had Ebola.
Suddenly, media from around the world began lambasting the hospital for failing to admit a man whose symptoms and travel history marked him as a prime candidate to have a contagious disease that can kill up to 70% of those it infects.
It mattered little that Presbyterian's emergency department is not actually run by the hospital, but by an outside contractor, as the Dallas Morning News reported. The hospital and its staffers became scapegoats.
From that point, the situation only got worse. On Oct. 8, Duncan died of the disease. Four days later, one of the nurses who cared for Duncan tested positive for the virus. The CDC immediately blamed her and the hospital for not following safety protocols designed to protect health care workers treating Ebola patients, further damaging the hospital's reputation.
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedinamora/what-do-you-say-on-when-an-ebola-patient-dies-in-your-hospit?utm_term=4ldqpia
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