Category: Health

UPDATE: Missouri laboratory certified to test for Ebola

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Columbia Missourian | Oct 17, 2014

JEFFERSON CITY — As news of potential Ebola cases captivates the nation, Gov. Jay Nixon assured Missouri residents Friday that the state’s health network was prepared to handle possible cases. Missouri now has one of approximately 20 laboratories across the country that can test potential Ebola specimens.

“What we tried to do is be consistent, to be prepared, to be calm and to be vigilant,” Nixon said during a press conference at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory in Jefferson City. “We hope that gives fellow Missouri residents confidence that we have a public health system … that is on point and prepared. And should the need arise, we have the resources to adequately deal with the challenge.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has certified the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory as an Ebola testing laboratory in order to investigate and control the disease in the state. Although the lab has received all proper equipment and protective garb, it has not yet received any Ebola samples, said Gail Vasterling, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

“There’s not been a single reported case of Ebola in the state of Missouri,” Nixon said. “Our lab is as good as any anywhere and has been certified to make sure that we will be able to find out as quickly and as professionally as possible if (an Ebola case) occurs.”

Nixon also announced Friday the release of $3.3 million in funds to local health agencies to combat this and other health concerns, such as the flu and foodborne illnesses.

After the Oct. 8 death of the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and the subsequent spread of the disease to two nurses, some have raised concerns about the thoroughness of CDC protective standards.

However, Vasterling said that the Missouri health care system has been properly trained in how to respond in the event of an Ebola case. She said hospitals statewide have been following CDC guidelines on protective gear and protocol.

“We had a training session last week with hospitals, emergency management systems, law enforcement, schools, and we had our state epidemiologist do a presentation for all of them. And then they did an exercise,” Vasterling said. “We’re planning to do more of those regionally. We also send out health alerts to update all the medical community within the state when necessary about the Ebola issue.”

The number of people who have contracted Ebola in the U.S. is small in comparison to those in West Africa. According to the CDC’s most recent estimates, West African countries have seen 8,973 cases of Ebola and 4,484 deaths. The continuing outbreak has been blamed on widespread poverty and failing infrastructure of the health care systems in the affected area.

Both Nixon and Vasterling reassured Missouri residents that similar failures are not a part of the state’s health care system.

Ebola is spread through direct contact of bodily fluids, including vomit, semen, sweat and blood. Those who suspect that they have Ebola should contact their local public health agencies.

VETO SESSION: Abortion wait time expected to be hot topic

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Columbia Missourian | Sept 10, 2014

JEFFERSON CITY — One of the legislature’s most emotionally charged debates in the veto session, which begins Wednesday, is likely to surround a bill that would triple the wait time for women having an abortion in Missouri.

Currently, that wait time is 24 hours. Advocates of the bill say that women need 72 hours to make an informed decision. Opponents respond that 72 hours of waiting only prolongs the woman’s pain.

For Liz Read-Katz, a Columbia resident and stay-at-home mother who had an abortion in 2011, the notion that 72 hours is beneficial for reflection is misguided.

Read-Katz was 16 weeks pregnant when she learned that her child had a 10 percent chance of having Trisomy 18, a chromosomal defect that few infants survive past birth.

After an amniocentesis confirmed the diagnosis, her doctor told her that the child would know only a short life of suffering. Read-Katz decided to terminate her pregnancy.

Read-Katz was living in Texas at the time. Although Texas has a 24-hour waiting period, she had to wait two weeks while her doctor petitioned the ethics board to allow the abortion at her Christian hospital.

“Waiting has zero impact on women. Once they’ve made the decision, they’ve already thought about it for a lot longer than 72 hours,” Read-Katz said. “No woman wants to have an abortion. They do it because they need to. The only thing a waiting period does is makes the woman hurt more and for longer, emotionally and physically.”

Read-Katz recalled that during her two-week wait, people asked her on a daily basis when her child was due, or whether she would be giving birth to a boy or a girl.

Three years later, House Bill 1307 appeared in the Missouri legislature.  The bill aimed to extend the time between a woman’s initial meeting with the abortion provider and the procedure from 24 hours to 72 hours. The 72-hour period would include no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. The bill passed in the House by a vote of 111-39, and it passed in the Senate 22-9.

In July, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill.

As it stands now, Missouri law requires that physicians offer women literature on the risks of the procedure and abortion alternatives, including printed materials that “prominently display the following statement: ‘The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.’”

The physician must also provide the opportunity for women to view an ultrasound, although they are not required to do so. Women must then wait 24 hours before they can give their consent to go through with the procedure.

Extending the wait period to 72 hours would allow women more time to consider all of the information given upon the initial meeting, said Rep. Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, sponsor of House Bill 1307. Elmer based his bill on the laws of two other states — Utah and South Dakota — that require women to wait 72 hours before an abortion.

The states implemented their laws too recently for statistics on these laws’ effects to be available. However, Dina van der Zalm, volunteer and former legislative intern for Planned Parenthood in Columbia, said she would be cautious of these figures, regardless.

Missouri has one abortion clinic in St. Louis, but van der Zalm said that some women travel to abortion clinics in other states, such as the one in Overland Park, Kan., near Kansas City. Women who opt to receive their abortions in other states will skew the statistics and conclusions drawn from them, van der Zalm said.

“Women have the choice to take all the time they want, but mandating a 72-hour wait increases the economic and emotional burden on women, even more so if they are juggling work schedules and childcare,” van der Zalm said.

Susan Klein, legislative liaison for Missouri Right to Life, sees the wait time as beneficial rather than burdensome.

“When a woman is in a crisis situation, it’s good to reflect on this decision. It’s going to take the life of an innocent child,” Klein said. “On Sept. 10, we’re going to be around to protect those innocent little lives.”

Klein is part of the anti-abortion advocacy groups hosting a #ShowMeLife rally and prayer vigil at the Capitol steps on Wednesday, the first day of the veto session. The groups are confident that the veto will be overturned. In fact, the groups have already scheduled a victory celebration rally for 4 p.m. Wednesday on the Capitol steps.

Read-Katz shared her story on the state Capitol steps in May during a filibuster sponsored by activists, and she plans to be back in Jefferson City on Wednesday to participate in another rally. The Stand With Missouri Women Rally was organized by a coalition of Missouri groups including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The vote to override Nixon’s veto is scheduled for Wednesday. The #ShowMeLife rally will be at noon at the Capitol Rotunda, and the Stand With Missouri Women Rally will begin at 11 a.m. at the state Capitol.