Kathy Gibbard

Kathy Gibbard, infection control coordinator for the hospital, is part of the "infection control risk assessment" team.The team, she said, analyzes each project for its potential to allow viruses and bacteria to get into the hospital, and helps develop counter measures.

"What we're trying to protect people from is the dust and the debris," she said.

But, she conceded, the actual microbes and bacteria that grow on the dust and debris are too numerous to catalogue and study in detail.

Kathy Gibbard, infection control coordinator for the hospital, is part of the "infection control risk assessment" team.The team, she said, analyzes each project for its potential to allow viruses and bacteria to get into the hospital, and helps develop counter measures.

"What we're trying to protect people from is the dust and the debris," she said this week.

But, she conceded, the actual microbes and bacteria that grow on the dust and debris are too numerous to catalogue and study in detail.

"There's always the potential that an infection could come into our community with an unknowing tourist," noted Aspen Valley Hospital infection control coordinator Kathy Gibbard.Gibbard's job, she said, is "to try to keep patients from getting sicker, and the employees from getting sick and passing it on to the community."

She said she has been monitoring the avian flu story and believes it may be possible that a normal flu vaccine, the kind meant to deal with annual flu outbreaks, could help reduce the severity of an avian flu outbreak.

"I feel that any vaccine is worthwhile," she said."I feel that that is something that is very beneficial to human beings," in that it boosts the body's immune response to disease.

And if that is the case, she theorized, someone who has gotten an ordinary flu shot "will have some resistance [to other flu strains, possibly including bird flu].

But according to Aspen Valley Hospital's infection control specialist, Kathy Gibbard, RN, in a community with many international travelers, that could change on a moment's notice.

"It's not that we expect SARS cases in this area - there are numerous mechanisms in place to identify suspected illness and intervene when a person enters the country - but it is a possibility," said Gibbard.
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"In a communicable disease of this type," Gibbard noted, "we are particularly concerned about someone with SARS presenting to the hospital and spreading the disease to healthcare workers."
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"We are prepared," said Gibbard.

Aspen Valley Hospital has requested 25 doses of smallpox vaccine to inoculate the initial response team at the hospital, said registered nurse Kathy Gibberd, infection-control officer for the hospital.

"Smallpox is just another airborne, infectious disease like tuberculosis that we would be prepared to treat," she said.

If a patient were to be sent or come to the hospital emergency room with symptoms suggestive of smallpox, they would be immediately placed in an isolation room within the emergency room, Gibberd said.Special ventilation in the room prevents air from being recirculated to the rest of the hospital.

All treatment staff would then don special masks and protective garments to prevent direct contact with any skin pustules, which are considered highly contagious, she said.

Gibberd said the main hospital and the intensive care unit also have special isolation rooms that would be used if smallpox patients were admitted.More than one patient diagnosed with smallpox would share the same isolation room, thereby increasing the hospital's treatment capacity.

"We're just waiting, day by day, for any orders on the vaccination plan," she said.

Kathy Gibbard, infection control coordinator for Aspen Valley Hospital, said she had seen no evidence that cases in the Roaring Fork Valley are mirroring the statewide trend.

"I am not being led to believe there is a decrease in new cases of the flu," said Gibbard.

Aspen's hospital had 27 confirmed positive new cases this week alone, she said, and numbers throughout the valley continued to rise.

"In two months we've already seen as many cases of the flu as we did for the whole season last year," Gibbard said.

She added that this year's flu seemed to be much more aggressive and it surfaced earlier than last year.

"We're seeing a new strain this year that is somewhat resistant to the vaccine," Gibbard said.
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Gibbard warned that flu numbers were not entirely reliable as not everyone with symptoms comes forward for testing.

"The majority of ill persons don't submit for testing, when we look at the statistics it depends on who comes in for testing," she said.

,Kathy Gibbard, infection control coordinator for Aspen Valley Hospital, said she had seen no evidence that cases in the Roaring Fork Valley are mirroring the statewide trend.

,"I am not being led to believe there is a decrease in new cases of the flu," said Gibbard.

,Aspen's hospital had 27 confirmed positive new cases this week alone, she said, and numbers throughout the valley continued to rise.

,"In two months we've already seen as many cases of the flu as we did for the whole season last year," Gibbard said.

,She added that this year's flu seemed to be much more aggressive and it surfaced earlier than last year.

,"We're seeing a new strain this year that is somewhat resistant to the vaccine," Gibbard said.
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,Gibbard warned that flu numbers were not entirely reliable as not everyone with symptoms comes forward for testing.

,"The majority of ill persons don't submit for testing, when we look at the statistics it depends on who comes in for testing," she said.

Aspen Valley Hospital has requested 25 doses of smallpox vaccine to inoculate the initial response team at the hospital, said registered nurse Kathy Gibberd, infection-control officer for the hospital.

"Smallpox is just another airborne, infectious disease like tuberculosis that we would be prepared to treat," she said.

If a patient were to be sent or come to the hospital emergency room with symptoms suggestive of smallpox, they would be immediately placed in an isolation room within the emergency room, Gibberd said.Special ventilation in the room prevents air from being recirculated to the rest of the hospital.

All treatment staff would then don special masks and protective garments to prevent direct contact with any skin pustules, which are considered highly contagious, she said.

Gibberd said the main hospital and the intensive care unit also have special isolation rooms that would be used if smallpox patients were admitted.More than one patient diagnosed with smallpox would share the same isolation room, thereby increasing the hospital's treatment capacity.

"We're just waiting, day by day, for any orders on the vaccination plan," she said.

,Aspen Valley Hospital has requested 25 doses of smallpox vaccine to inoculate the initial response team at the hospital, said registered nurse Kathy Gibberd, infection-control officer for the hospital.

,"Smallpox is just another airborne, infectious disease like tuberculosis that we would be prepared to treat," she said.

,If a patient were to be sent or come to the hospital emergency room with symptoms suggestive of smallpox, they would be immediately placed in an isolation room within the emergency room, Gibberd said.Special ventilation in the room prevents air from being recirculated to the rest of the hospital.

,All treatment staff would then don special masks and protective garments to prevent direct contact with any skin pustules, which are considered highly contagious, she said.

,Gibberd said the main hospital and the intensive care unit also have special isolation rooms that would be used if smallpox patients were admitted.More than one patient diagnosed with smallpox would share the same isolation room, thereby increasing the hospital's treatment capacity.

,"We're just waiting, day by day, for any orders on the vaccination plan," she said.