Kaiser shows off new Oakland facility prepared to handle Ebola

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- In the battle against Ebola, Kaiser Permanente says it's ready. ABC7 News takes a look at the new facility they've just unveiled in Oakland.

When it comes to Ebola, Kaiser says it's not fooling around. Upstairs, they have a unit with airtight rooms, and the nurses who enter them will spend 15 minutes getting dressed in a three-layer impenetrable suit.

If you're among the one in three Bay Area residents with Kaiser health care, the Oakland hospital is where you'll go if you contract Ebola. On the sixth floor, Kaiser has equipped a select group of doctors and nurses to provide ongoing care for people with the deadly virus.

"A specific team of care providers that have that type of specialized training, just like we have for cardiac care or for critical care," Kaiser infectious disease specialist Stephen Parodi, M.D., said.

The staff in this unit spend hours in training playing out scenarios using medical dummies. These nurses say they volunteered for the task.

"As a nurse, it's really important to be able to take care of every patient that comes through that door, no matter what they have, no matter what kind of condition," one nurse said.

"If you can take care of this patient, we can take care of any kind of patient," another Kaiser nurse said.

But not every nurse likes Kaiser's approach.

"We are asking to have the equipment, the optimal personal protection equipment, hazmat suits, powered respiratory, for all nurses," Kaiser Oakland Nurse & union spokeswoman Katy Roemer.

The California Nurses Association, which is now in contract negotiations with Kaiser, says it's just the latest place where they want Kaiser to give them more tools and training.

"We're actually about to go on strike at Kaiser next Tuesday and we are going on strike because of that bigger context, of not having the resources," Roemer said.

"We are very disappointed that the union has put our nurses in that position," Kaiser East Bay Area manager

Odette Bolano said.

Kaiser told reporters they're following best practices to keep Ebola from spreading.

"Our commitment is to assure that we limit the number of facilities that are taking care of Ebola patients," Bolano said.

They added all Kaiser nurses are being equipped to screen for Ebola and to isolate a patient if necessary, but once that happens, they'll be transported to the hospital in Oakland for ongoing treatment or to a similar facility in South Sacramento.