This week marks one month since the COVID-19 pandemic began to gain a foothold in Maryland. One month ago, we sent as much of our workforce as possible to work from home, ramped up telemedicine appointments and did our best to abide by the Governor’s order to stay at home and away from others. One […]
Biocontainment Unit
Emerging Infectious Disease Symposium
Posted by | Patient CareOn February 20, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health, The Johns Hopkins Hospital hosted the state’s first-ever Emerging Infectious Disease Symposium. The event had over 450 attendees with healthcare workers from every county in the state. It kicked off with two keynote talks from Drs. Ian Crozier and Noreen Hynes, associate professor in […]
BCU Update
Posted by | Patient CareThe Johns Hopkins Lifeline Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit recently conducted a joint exercise in the Jefferson Street loading dock. The exercise was in collaboration with the Saint Francis Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Infectious Disease Transport Team and the Cecil County Emergency Services Hazardous Materials Team. Titled Operation Santa’s […]
October Updates
Posted by | Patient CareThis month, the BCU continued to expand its partnerships through the Maryland Ebola and Special Pathogen Training Program with multiple facilities in the state. In the month of September, the BCU team provided three training sessions with the emergency department as well as labor and delivery staff at Howard County General Hospital. In addition, the […]
August Drills with MedStar
Posted by | Patient CareOur BCU team has been strengthening partnerships within our state assessment hospitals and frontline facilities this past month. Several members of our team observed and evaluated a full functional drill at MedStar Southern Maryland in Clinton, demonstrating their activation operations in the early hours of the morning. Our team collaborated with Southern Maryland’s emergency management […]
NETEC Summit
Posted by | Patient CareThis month, the BCU team traveled to Denver for the annual National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) Summit. The summit brought together groups from each of the 10 Regional Ebola and Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (RESPTCs) to discuss progress, strategies and challenges related to special pathogen preparedness as well as research activities, public health […]
High Consequence Pathogen Preparedness Workshop
Posted by | Patient CareOn May 15-16, 2019, the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit–in collaboration with the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC)–hosted a comprehensive workshop on high consequence pathogen preparedness. Approximately 150 individuals from around the country attended, bringing together expertise in critical care, nursing, public health, administration, medical transport and laboratory operations. The two-day workshop featured several […]
Help Minimize the Measles Outbreak
Posted by | Patient CareOver the past few years, the BCU team has learned the importance of taking a good travel and social history. The current measles outbreak is a great reminder of the importance of asking about our patients’ lives, activities and the places they travel. As of April 19, 2019 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
March Updates
Posted by | Patient CareMarch continues to be busy for the BCU team. The recent Hopkins On Alert quarterly newsletter, through the Johns Hopkins Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR), highlighted some of BCU’s endeavors from congressional visits to the most recent exercise. The newsletter features a myriad of topics related to institutional and personal preparedness activities. Two of […]
The BCU on Capitol Hill
Posted by | Patient CareThe month of February saw many exciting accomplishments and opportunities for the BCU team. On February 4, The Hill published an op’ed written by BCU Medical Director, Dr. Brian Garibaldi, and BCU Executive Director, Dr. Lisa Maragakis, on the importance of maintaining pandemic preparedness infrastructure as well as strengthening national preparedness for emerging infectious diseases. After […]