The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the Department of Social Health and Services confirmed H1N1 infections in four patients and one staff member. Sources inside the hospital have reported disclosure and safety issues. While schedulers and nurse managers were notified of the outbreak, two staff members said notifications were not spread throughout the hospital and many workers were not informed about the situation, according to KOMO. The health department said Western State isolated the sick patients properly.
In the KOMO report, DSHS said, “Western State Hospital did everything right in this case…the staff at WSH deserve to be commended for their patient care.”
Western State Hospital faces an upcoming April deadline for improvement plans in order to maintain $60 million in federal funding. The hospital has recently been admonished for poor record keeping, as well as issues with patient safety and infection control.
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