WAYNE COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) – Unsafe practices used in blood sugar monitoring led to a hepatitis outbreak that killed six people at a Wayne County nursing home. Now North Carolina legislators are hoping a new law will prevent something like this from happening again.
In late 2010 investigators discovered staff at GlenCare Assisted Living Center had been spreading infections by re-using fingersticks and other tools to test diabetes patients. At the time residents were still trying to make sense of it all.
“I hope that all this gets resolved and something good comes out of it all,” said resident Gary Mumford, in October 2010.
Now over a year later things are becoming clear. Investigators say those people might still be alive today had the staff been better trained.
That’s why a new law will start to phase in this month.
It’s something Peggy Smith, with the North Carolina Assisted Living Association, says needs to be considered at every level of care.
"It is important, wherever someone is residing, to properly treat or provide -- in this case for diabetes. It's a very involved skill that needs to be understood,” said Smith.
By the end of the year 30,000 medical technicians will go through a course developed by the State Division of Public Health. And by next year technicians will have to go through five hours of infection control training before they ever touch a patient.
Smith says North Carolina has been on the forefront for years when it comes to medical training.
"I think our state compared to many has quite a bit in place along these lines and did before the law passed to protect residents,” she said.
She also thinks the Wayne County incident portrayed Assisted Living care in a bad light.
"Sometimes it takes a bad situation to bring attention to this. Unfortunately these incidences reflect on our whole industry,” she said.
But finally, something good can come of it all.
"If nothing more, just by exposing people to what we need to be aware of with universal precautions -- It just doesn't protect the resident but also the employee."
Ironically GlenCare wasn’t aware of the new law but employees say their staff already goes through extensive training on a regular basis since the outbreak.
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