Tuberculosis exposure: State checking if Providence, Health Dept. followed guidelines to identify exposed babies

The State is checking if El Paso’s Health Department followed its guidelines when identifying babies exposed to tuberculosis (TB) at Providence Memorial Hospital.

Carrie Williams, the Director of Media Relations for the Texas Department of State Health Services said the agency gave specific guidelines to the Health Department.

She said the State told the Health Department to include two groups into the list of exposed babies: those who were born when the infected employee was working and babies who were in the nursery during the infected employee’s shift.

Providence and the health department have made it clear they’re including babies who were born when the employee with TB was working.

But it’s unclear if they followed the State’s second guideline, to include babies who were in the nursery.

“We’re looking into whether our guideline was clear. There’s no indication that it was not, but we’re checking to see if it was an if they followed it,” said Williams.

Parents whose babies were in the nursery after their date of birth and on days the employee was working are concerned the Hospital’s list was not thorough enough.

“That’s not fair, what if one of those children tests positive? And the parents would have never known,” said Melissa Martinez. Her daughter was in the nursery during the infected employee’s shifts but was not on the list of exposed babies and she was not contacted by the hospital.

Providence’s spokeswoman, Audrey Garcia, said in an email that the hospital and the Health Department worked collaboratively to identify exposed persons and the list may grow as the investigation continues.

Public Health Director, Robert Resendes said the Health Department used state guidelines to discern who was exposed. But the Health Department Spokesman, Armando Saldivar has not responded to an email asking if the Department followed the State’s second guideline – to include babies who were in the nursery during the infected Patient Care Tech’s shifts.

Instead of directly answering if the hospital included nursery babies on the list of exposed persons, Garcia, Providence’s spokeswoman, in an email, sent out a statement that did not address the specific question.

“We believe that we have identified all of the patients who are at risk of exposure, but we continue to work closely with the health department and other clinical experts to determine if additional individuals need to be tested,” she wrote.

ABC-7 responded to Garcia, saying the statement did not answer the question and asked it again. She has not answered.

Providence also declined to be on ABC-7 Xtra and discuss the exposure more thoroughly.

The hospital determined the nursery was the risk area which is baffling if the babies who were there are not on the list.

“The techs are not always in the nursery but the interaction level and kind of the time frames, the closeness, was determined that was where the risk was determined,” said Providence CEO Eric Evans in a news conference Tuesday.

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