With the news that a second American nurse has contracted Ebola, Los Angeles-area nurses are concerned that Southern California hospitals aren't ready.
Some nurses at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica say they've never seen a threat like Ebola and they're not prepared to handle it.
"We aren't prepared to deal with Ebola," nurse Lizabeth Wade said.
As labor and delivery nurses, Wade and Deborah Breetwor Peters are exposed to a lot of bodily fluids. And while they're trained to handle many different types of infections, they say Ebola is different.
"I really don't know if these are going to be the only two nurses that ever get infected," Wade said.
They were stunned to hear that two nurses have Ebola after helping treat a Liberian man who died at a Dallas hospital.
Their worries have only increased since a rally in Las Vegas, where nurses argued America was being caught off guard.
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"Now, it's here, and we're completely unprepared," Wade said. "Every hospital in America should have policies and procedures and standards of care in place."
The California Nurses Union says it's sending a letter to President Obama with a list of demand, including that nurses have full hazmat suits when treating Ebola patients; that there be two nurses for each patient; and that there be interactive training.
The nurses say what they wear puts them at risk.
"There's lots of areas that would be exposed to body fluids, Breetwor-peters said." around the neck donning the gown and taking it off .. we don't know how to do it properly for this particular kind of virus
Nurses say they're not trying to cause panic, but simply protect those who are on the front lines.
"I don't know that the next person that comes through my emergency room is gonna be somebody that was on one of those airplanes and been infected," Wade said.
Both Kaiser and St. John's hospitals say they are providing enhance training, but it was not clear whether there will be a change in protective gear.
