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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 1987)
* 1 ' 4 * £ * * PAGE 13 — The Georgia Bulletin, July 23,1987 tients as well as patients treated for cancer or blood disorders. — Emergency testing for “both the pa tient and employee when an unanticipated exposure occurs,” for example when a health care worker is stuck with a used needle or is cut with a used scalpel. Under the new policy, patients would be asked to sign consent forms upon admis sion to allow AIDS testing under those cir cumstances. Patients testing positive for the AIDS virus would be placed on enteric isolation, involving the use of gown, gloves and gog gles, a common procedure for patients with infectious diseases Also, patients who do not consent to testing would be ad mitted to St Thomas but placed in enteric isolation. Cost of testing would range from $20 to $30 per patient, Kaiser said. He declined to estimate what the total cost would be to implement the policy, but other hospital sources put the figure at around $300,000 per year. The hospital, which has 571 beds, ex pects to have 14,000 patients next year and estimates 10,000 of those would meet the criteria for testing. St. Thomas already has safety policies for treating patients diagnosed as having AIDS as well as procedures for handling all patient tissue and body fluid specimens. Kaiser, who is also St. Thomas’ chief of infectious disease, added that the new policy is “simply good nursing practice.” He said statistics from the state’s Depart ment of Health shows that St. Thomas, because of its emphasis on acute care, has the “sickest” adult patients in the state. He said test results would not become part of the patient’s hospital records, and if a patient tests positive he or she would be referred to an AIDS “team” of health educators, social workers and pastoral care workers. Sister McPhee said the new policy would not be implemented until procedures are developed to insure confidentiality on test results and an extensive educational pro gram is “firmly in place” for employees and patients and their families. AIDS CONCERN — San Francisco residents listen as the names of those who have died from AIDS are read during a 1983 candlelight vigil. Because of San Francisco’s large homosexual population — an estimated 15 percent of the residents — AIDS is of major concern in the city. At the urging of Archbishop John R. Quinn, Pope John Paul II will meet with AIDS patients Sept. 17 when he visits the city. (NC photo from UPI) USCC: Housing Laws Need 'Teeth' BY SISTER MARY ANN WALSH WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. Catholic Con ference has urged law makers to “put teeth into” legislation which bans hous ing discrimination against racial minorities, the handi capped and families with children. The USCC made its ap peal in a July 14 letter to members of the House of Representatives. The let ter, released by the USCC July 17, called for passage of the Fair Housing Amend ments Act of 1987. The act, according to the USCC, would establish a procedure to assure prompt and effective redress for We Sell Everything:* Gifts & Frames Party Goods Stationery Baskets & Silk Flowers Arts, Crafts & Ribbons Seasonal Decorations almost 3756 Roswell Rd, NE Stonewood Village 237-5186 973-5985 Dunwoody Village Shamrock Plaza Market Place 394-3362 633-0929 993-5490 bell/ In Adventure in Shopping victims of housing discrimi nation and “put teeth into the law by speeding up the process ” The letter, signed by Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, general secretary of the USCC, highlighted the plight of families with children Discrimination against them “is an increasing phenomenon in the nation’s housing markets,” Msgr. Hoye said. “This kind of bias places an unjust burden on families, and constitutes a threat to this most basic unit of social organization, ’ ’ he added. “Moreover, it in flates the price of housing for families, since it limits the number of units available.” On April 9, Bishop James W. Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, immediate past presi dent of the USCC, testified in favor of the bill before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution. In May, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan of Brooklyn, N.Y., chairman of the USCC Committee on Social Development and World Peace, wrote to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to urge prompt passage of the bill. Paint Sale WONDER-TONES " Interior Latex Flat Wall Paint • Highly washable. • Spatter-less formula. • Water cleanup. Save $4.00 s4 f i*ttc4te&ct PAINT & SUPPLY Complete Line of Supplies 41 Marietta St M r——, 4314 Roswell Rd., N.E. Alpharetta, Ga. 30201 'SB; Atlanta, Ga. 30342 442-5819 1 1 255-6661 “WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS” Catholic Hospital Plans Routine AIDS Testing =M= bleyie STUTTGART • PARIS • NEW YORK • MILANO the Classic Collection Better Knitwear for the classic woman Sizes 6-20 220 Sandy Springs Circle Springs Festival/256-4847 Open: Mon.-Sat. 10-6 Custom colors slightly higher NASHVILLE, Tenn. (NC) - Routine AIDS testing of all surgical and critically ill patients will begin at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, hospital officials have announced. St. Thomas, operated by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, becomes the first health care facility in Tennessee and apparently the first in the United States to make the testing routine for pa tients. Officials at the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta told the Ten nessee Register, newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville, they could not confirm whether any other hospital has such testing. “This policy has been developed to reflect the Daughters of Charity philosophy of respect for the human digni ty of our patients, their families, our employees and our medical staff,” said Sister John Gabriel McPhee, chairwoman of the hospital board, which approved the policy. Dr. Allen Kaiser, chief of medicine, said the AIDS testing will “identify (AIDS) pa tients for whom nurses and other health care workers will be involved in intimate care, so they may take extra precautions. It will give support personnel an extra warning.” Kaiser told the Tennessee Register the policy was recommended by the hospital’s AIDS Task Force and was in a response to recent recommendations from the centers in Atlanta that health care workers treat all patients as if they were potential AIDS carriers. He added that the policy had wide support among St. Thomas’ medical and nursing staffs. The centers reported last May that three U.S. health care workers tested positive for AIDS as a result of exposure to the virus on the job. The hospital policy provides for two types of testing: —■ Selective testing of patients “whose care will involve ongoing or intensive con tact that is likely to result in significant ex posure to blood or other body fluids,” in cluding all surgical and critical care pa- New Arrivals Of Summer 40% To 50% Off Sale Price $12.10 Gallon
