New York's first Ebola patient will be treated at the Bellevue Hospital Manhattan

New York's first Ebola patient, Craig Spencer, 33 will be treated in a 278 year-old Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

 

Craig Spencer tested positive for the virus 10 days after returning from treating infected Ebola patients in West Africa; where he was working with Doctors without Borders.  He was said to have developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms Thursday morning and was taken to the Bellevue hospital.

 

For more than two months the hospital has been preparing for Ebola cases by ensuring their health workers practise safety protocols, donning and removing protective gear using a budding system to avoid contamination.

 

Bellevue Hospital Manhattan

Ebola room at the Bellevue Hospital and a health worker in a protective gear

 

 

Bellevue Hospital is designed for isolation, identification and treatment of infectious diseases such as Ebola.  In  a statement, the New York City Health Department states, “New York City is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of all New Yorkers.”

 

The hospital has set up a four single bed isolation rooms with a separate air system and power supply in case a patient need intensive care.  It has also established a separate diagnostic facility for testing blood samples for Ebola to avoid contamination its existing laboratory.