Protecting Americans from the Threat of Ebola By Tom Spangler

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    First and foremost, I must disclose that I do not believe the Ebola virus is a major threat to the majority of the American people. There seems to be a concerted effort on the part of many in the media to lead people to believe that this is going to be a pandemic affecting people all over the country. A look at past history would indicate that this is not the case. However, it is still important that we take the necessary precautions to protect ourselves from the threat that this virus provides.

    In late 2002 and into 2003, we were led to believe that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was going to kill thousands of people. We were told to avoid air travel at all costs. In the end, only eight Americans contracted the condition and there were no deaths in the U.S. While the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) had a more severe impact within the U.S., it still did not reach anywhere near levels that we constantly heard it would.

    These cases show that our government is very good at keeping these situations under control. In our country, we are blessed with clean water and sanitation systems that do not exist in the areas that have already been deeply impacted by the Ebola virus.

    All of this being said, we still need to be sure we take necessary precautions. We should continue the course of attempting to stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa while preventing individuals from the region from traveling to the United States until it is completely contained. I believe that this course of action is the best one to keep this from putting more of our population in harm’s way.

    Congress must discuss the possibility of increasing funding for medical research regarding potential threats that may come about in the future. While even the foremost medical experts cannot predict these situations with complete certainty, they do possess the technology to prepare us for potential dangers.

    To learn more about my campaign to represent Indiana’s 8th District in Congress, visit my website at www.spanglerforcongress.com.

    THIS ARTICLE WAS POSTED BY THE CCO WITHOUT OPINON,  BIAS OR EDITING.

    FOOT NOTE:  Following is a statement from Tom regarding the current state of his campaign and his wife’s breast cancer surgery:

    As many of you know, Penny Spangler, my wife of 43 years, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the second time we have walked this journey, as she experienced cancer in the same area 23 years ago. Our faith is strong and we are in good spirits. My wife will be undergoing surgery very soon and we ask that you keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. We would like to take this opportunity and my platform as a congressional candidate to increase awareness and move towards a cure for this terrible disease. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but every day should we should all be aware of what women with breast cancer and their friends and family are dealing with. We must find a cure so that these women can find peace and so that our younger generation of women do not have to live in constant fear of experiencing what my wife is dealing with.

    I will be suspending my campaign for these next two days as my wife undergoes surgery. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

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    22 COMMENTS

    2. Excellent article. It would be nice if the sluggards in Washington would let us have a Surgeon General, in view of the current situation. You and your wife are in my thoughts. Stay strong.

      • We have an acting Surgeon General at the moment. I’m not sure how this makes much of a difference either way.

      • The NRA threatened to ‘score’ Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General. That prospect was enough to send the cowards in the senate scurrying away. They never even voted on it.

        • Doesn’t the NRA, and the miserly coldhearted R party just warm the cockles of your heart? Makes ya’ wannna run out and vote straight R doesn’t it? I mean vote to cut the budget of the CDC, refuse to nominate a Surgeon general because he had the audacity to say 30,000 gun deaths a year(10,000 gun homicides) is public health problem! Then refuse to properly fund Ebola prevention measures and then blame O when things go wrong. Tey are such great human beings!!

    3. Prayers and God bless Penny….tom you again prove you are lock stock and barrel with barry obola….. no ebola to worry about here ….while the borders are wide open….tom suspending the “campaign” for two whole days while Penny goes under a difficult surgery says all i need to know about you………liberalism is a mental disorder………..

      • I don’t care what your politics are but now is not the time or the place to be critizing this man as his wife is facing surgery for breast cancer for the second time.

        As someone else who has been diagnosed with cancer I really resent what you said. You should really seek help for your mental illness.

        Anyone who voted for Obama is a friend of mine! And those that hate Obama need to get over it. :~)

      • I heard only a good guy with Ebola could stop a bad guy with Ebola, so I guess all our gun loving friends should rush off to Dick’s and Gander Mountain to stock up on some Ebola. Honey look what I brought home!

    5. In a conference call late Tuesday, the nation’s largest nurses’ union described how the patient, Duncan, was left in an open area of the emergency room for hours. National Nurses United, citing unnamed nurses, said staff treated Duncan for days without the correct protective gear, that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling and safety protocols constantly changed.

      RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses United, refused to say how many nurses made the statement about Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, but insisted they were in a position to know what happened.

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      I told you so! This is what goes on with these type of things all the time. Human’s being humans and then acting like everything is hunky dory and A OK when behind the scenes everything is FURBARED.

      I’ve supervised asbestos abatement projects in the past and have seen how things can get out of hand. You would not believe how fubared these projects can get. You just have to see if for yourself to understand what I’m talking about. But it ‘s not pretty!

      Please pray that the CDC gets this EBOLA virus in the USA in TX under control before it spreads around the USA. It could be our waterloo!

    6. Lets get back to talking about the spread of EBOLA. The nurses working at the hospital in TX are speaking out even though they might fear being fired for doing so. They were there and are telling the news media now a chilling story. No protocols or changing protocols were in place and contaminated medial waste and supplies were allowed to spread the virus from the patient to other areas of the hospital.

      The patient was allowed to stay in an open area of the ER when he was projectile vomiting and had diarrhea. And as I suspected an already stated elsewhere there were not protective boots being worn by the hospital workers nursing the new EBOLA patient and they had to be walking though the body fluids in their shoes without any protective foot covers. This is how you spread the virus from the patients area to the rest of the hospital.

      Now a second person in the hospital has been confirmed to have the EBOLA virus. What will we all do if all the health care workers in the hospitals get the EBOLA Virus and die? Who will be left to know how to treat the rest of us? Seriously.

      We need our entire USA resources to get on this mess right now. Not tomorrow but right NOW!

      The Army and the CDC need to examine that hospital and get everyone that was there under observation before they go out and spread the EBOLA virus to the rest of us. This hospital was not prepared to handle these type of EBOLA patients and it’s coming to light of day now.

      Two hospital workers are not sick with the EBOLA virus and who else will come down with the fever in the next few days or months?

      The sad thing is that the Hospital is with holding the facts about how this happened so they won’t look bad. They need to step up to the plate and start telling the truth and the whole truth. Any nurse at that hospital should not be fired for telling the public and media what went on there in that ER room and the EBOLA patients room.

      Making a nurse take care of such a sick and contageious patient is a death sentence if you don’t give that nurse the proper equipment and training before sending her into that Ebola patients room to care for him when he has EXPLOSIVE Vomiting! That’s not right at all.

      I used to be an EMT but quit after I found out about AIDS. I didn’t think I needed to be volunteering my time as a EMT one day I night unknowingly work with an AIDS patient. Sorry but I want to stay free of any disease and since I didn’t get paid for doing that work I decided to stop doing the volunteer thing. If I were working and being paid good money as a nurse and was made to work on that EBOLA patient without any protective gear and training I’d walk out of that hospital and go find another job. I’d rather go wash dishes than die from the EBOLA virus.

      There is no approved medicine to save an EBOLA patient right now. There are a couple of people who have survived the EBOLA virus when they contracted it. The survival rate was about 50% in Africa but now some have said that the survival rate is down to around 30%. I don’t like those odds. But that’s Africa not the USA.

      We should be able to develop a vaccine to stop the spread of this disease. But the CDC and people like that need to help these hospitals learn how to handle any new EBOLA patients. Maybe all hospitals can’t do this so maybe we should think about setting up Regional Special EBOLA hospitals that are equipped and trained to property treat these patients without spreading the disease at the same time.

      But something has to be done and fast. Where is the US Congress when this is happening? What are they still talking about? Bengazi? Probably still thinking about how to attack the President . They certainly are not doing their job. They fail to act proactively and then go over board after the disaster happens. RE 911 as an example.

      • MoveOn, if you are such a fan & friend of Obama – would you please get his lazy ass off of the golf course? Obama needs to act like a leader in this crisis situation.

        I’m sure you are all for having African flights coming over to the USA & leaving our Mexican borders wide open, right?

        Oh, don’t forget about ISIS, too! When’s tee time today?

        • I don’t play golf. That game is boring and a waste of time. Last I heard on the news today the President was meeting with his entire cabinet to talk about how to stop the spread of ebola. Maybe you need to stay better informed before you open your mouth.

          And for what it’s worth you are wrong again about what you think you are sure about.

          I won’t let an guy like you put words in my mouth or talk for me. You don’t know me and so you should stick to what YOU think and not try to tell me what I think.

          I’d ban any and all flights coming out the area where Ebola is located in West Africa and any one making connecting flights out of that area. The last thing we should have done was bring the sick people to the USA to be treated. Isolate them in place and don’t spread the virus around the world. People who go there should stay there and not come back until they are damn sure that they are not carrying the virus in their bodies.

          I’d sick Isis on you as you could use some restructuring! You are sick in the head if you voted for Buschon and his GOP cronies.

          • Cabinet meeting regarding Ebola cancelled by President Obama per MSNBC report just now.

              • I saw that on the news strip on MSNBC at about 11 am. Have not had time to check since then.

            • I hope that they didn’t cancel that meeting. It’s important to get everyone on the same page in this issue. This is critical to the country to stop this Ebola virus now and not delay things. We need someone to coordinate the Federal response so that Private Industry, Hospitals, can know what to do and exactly what protocols to use to treat these Ebola patients and we need that now.

            • The President canceled his trip to devote his time to the cabinet meeting to discuss the Ebola Problem. That’s what I found on a Google Search. I took a nap this afternoon and didn’t stay up to see the news reports on the meeting. But I did see where he did cancel a trip to make the cabinet meeting. Did I actually miss something on this meeting? I’m sorry but I was extremely tired this afternoon as I have some health problems that require me to get my rest at times.

    7. Nurses at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital threaten to walk off the job unless they get better training and equipment to handle the Ebola patients. I really don’t blame them. No job is worth losing your life.

      And this is not a political issue as Ebola doesn’t care if your are a republican or a democrat or a independent. Only really stupid people make this a political issue. This issue is of concern to all of us. Congress need to approve the Presidents appointment to the Surgeon Generals Position and PDQ.

      • If the Director of the CDC and it’s people can’t get this right then it’s time to evaluate what they are doing right and wrong and make corrections ASAP.

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