Few people turn out for Ebola forum
<p>Dr. Jeffrey Tjaden, an infectious disease specialist, gives a brief update on Ebola on Monday at Flathead Valley Community College. The Flathead City-County Health Department has created an automated information line that people can reach by calling 751-8188. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Whether sparse attendance at Monday night’s Ebola Community Forum in Kalispell was a sign of easing concerns about the disease or just a symptom of frigid weather isn’t clear.
But of the hundreds of chairs in Flathead Valley Community College’s large community meeting room, only around 40 were filled — many of them by nursing students and hospital employees.
Even so, a panel took its job seriously and fielded questions at the end of the presentations.
Dr. Jeffrey Tjaden, Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s infectious disease specialist, gave a presentation on what Ebola is, how it affects the body and how it can be spread.
It is a spiel he has given several times already, with the only major change being the number of dead from the virus. As of Monday night, the total death toll has been more than 4,800 with more than 13,000 possible infected.
“KRMC has an Ebola response team,” Tjaden said. “If you call and say anything about Ebola, we have a response to that. We have an Ebola physician on call around the clock.”
After Tjaden, Flathead City-County Public Health Officer Joe Russell gave a short speech trying to calm any lingering fears over the hemorrhagic virus.
“It is not easy to get,” Russell said. “And even if a case were to come to the Flathead, I would hope we could do what Nigeria did and follow up on a case investigation.”
Nigeria had a few cases but was able to quickly lock down and isolate those who had been exposed or infected. Russell said he believes the Flathead health-care system would do an equally good or better job were an Ebola case to make it all the way to Northwest Montana.
Frank Garner, newly elected Montana House District 7 representative and former Kalispell Regional Medical Center chief of security, was the moderator for the evening.
He was joined by Tjaden, Russell, North Valley Hospital Chief Clinical Officer Chris Bogers and KRMC Chief Operating Officer Deb Wilson.