September has been team building month on the BCU. On Friday, September 16, the Department of Nursing treated the BCU team to a night out at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The following morning, BCU team members gathered at the Appalachian Challenge Course at the Park School of Baltimore, where Will Weiskopf and a team(...)
Biocontainment Unit
Drill Successes
Posted by | Patient CareThis past month has been a busy and exciting one for the Biocontainment Unit! On Tuesday, August 16, our colleagues at Lifeline, with the support of HEIC, conducted a successful transport drill with the military from Andrews Air Force Base to Walter Reed Medical Center. We are so grateful to our partners at Lifeline and(...)
Biocontainment Unit Summer Lecture
Posted by | Patient CarePlease join us for The Johns Hopkins Hospital Biocontainment Unit Summer Lecture on Friday, August 19 from 9-10 a.m. in Hurd Hall. Our guest speaker is Patricia Tennill, lead nurse of the Special Pathogens Program and assistant director of nursing at Bellevue Hospital in New York. Her talk, “The Importance of Quarterly Training and Nursing Engagement,” will(...)
Comings and Goings
Posted by | Patient CareOn July 1 the BCU said goodbye to Hailey James, our star program manager. Hailey was a core member of the leadership team who helped to build the administrative structure of the BCU and was instrumental in securing our federal grant funding. She has moved on to the University of North Carolina to pursue her(...)
Posted by | Patient Care
On May 11-12, the BCU team traveled to Emory University to participate in the inaugural meeting of the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC). The team met with representatives from the other eight regional Ebola and Other Special Pathogens Treatment Centers and participated in workshops designed to strengthen our current training and preparedness protocols(...)
Discussions, Drills and Training
Posted by | Patient CareIt has been a busy month on the BCU! On April 5, the BCU hosted a tabletop discussion with other stakeholders in HHS Region 3, including representatives from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, DC and the Federal Government. The tabletop addressed activation of the regional response plan and the potential transport of Ebola virus disease(...)
Preparedness Activities for April
Posted by | Patient CareThe BCU will be participating in two large-scale preparedness activities in April. On April 5, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) will host a Region 3 tabletop exercise at Johns Hopkins to simulate the transport and transfer to Johns Hopkins of out-of-state patients infected with Ebola virus or other high consequence pathogens.(...)
Welcome to BCU update!
Posted by | Patient CareThis is where we will keep you updated on the Johns Hopkins Hospital Biocontainment Unit news, events and activities. The unit officially opened on May 20, 2015, and has activated on three occasions: once for a patient in isolation and twice to run laboratory tests on potential patients. Shortly after opening, the Johns Hopkins Hospital(...)
Ebola Response Team Earns MHA’s Distinguished Service Award
Posted by | CongratulationsAt its annual meeting on Tuesday, June 2, the Maryland Hospital Association presented the Distinguished Service Award to the Ebola Response Team here at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Distinguished Service Award is the MHA’s highest honor and was given to caregivers at the three hospitals designated as Maryland’s Ebola treatment centers: Johns Hopkins Hospital, MedStar(...)
New Biocontainment Unit Opens
Posted by | Patient CareAfter seven months of transforming a deactivated clinical unit into a state-of-the-art facility, the new Biocontainment Unit has been unveiled. Lisa Maragakis, medical director of the unit and associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Brian Garibaldi, associate director and assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, will lead(...)