CRMC Taking Steps To Prevent Measles In Cookeville

Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) will take precautionary measures to ensure employees and patients do not contract the measles virus.

Chief Operating Officer Scott Williams said Thursday all hospital employees will be required to show proof of having received the measles vaccine.

“If they do not have proof of that or proof that they actually had the disease, they’re going to be getting a blood sample for a measles titer,” Williams said. “If that titer is not sufficient, we will require employees to get two boosters typically in order to get their immunity up to where it should be.”

Williams and CEO Paul Korth addressed the national measles outbreak during CRMC’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Williams said having hospital employees vaccinated will be critical in the event a measle case is reported in the region.

“That is going to be a condition of employment for our medical center,” Williams said. “We strongly believe that it is important for us to be able to serve our community whenever an outbreak such as that was to occur.”

State health officials received their first case of the current outbreak earlier this year in East Tennessee. The man who had the virus was traveling and may have exposed others to the virus as well.

“Obviously, if we had a measles outbreak here in the hospital, it would be devastating,” Williams said. “If you’re exposed to the measles, you are required by the CDC to be quarantined for 21 days. As a result, multiple employees being out for three weeks would significantly hurt the hospital.”

The Center for Disease Control reports over 620 cases have been reported in 22 states this year.  The report also suggests that a majority of people with the virus had not been vaccinated.