Mayor Stimpson hosts meeting with healthcare community on Ebola response

Oct 22nd, 2014

MOBILE, Ala. - Mayor Sandy Stimpson hosted a meeting today with first responders and leaders from the local healthcare community to discuss how to best prepare and respond to potential Ebola cases in Mobile.

"Last week our city experienced a real life test on how to respond to an Ebola case," said Mayor Stimpson. "The case turned out to be a false alarm, but we learned that our first responders are well equipped to handle this situation. The purpose of this meeting was to open the lines of communication with our health care providers and hospitals to ensure we are overly prepared in the event of a worst case scenario."

Mobile County Public Health Officer Bert Eichold and representatives from Mobile Infirmary, Springhill Medical Center, Providence Hospital, University of South Alabama (USA) Medical Center and USA Children's and Women's Hospital all attended today's meeting. Members of the

Mobile County Commission and the Mobile City Council were also invited.

The group discussed hosting joint drills on how to handle a patient, pinpointing potential decontamination sites and where to house exposed healthcare workers among other things.

"Collaboration is key if our message to the public is to be accurate and timely," Stimpson said.

"Citizens can be confident that their health care providers and first responders are well-trained and up-to-date on the latest protocols."

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Contact: George Talbot, City of Mobile, 251-208-7590, George.Talbot@CityofMobile.org