VANCOUVER - B.C.'s health minister is assuring the public that the province is prepared to deal with a case of Ebola after a second U.S. health worker tested positive for the virus.
Terry Lake says the risk in B.C. is low, but provincial health authorities have infection control systems and procedures in place in case someone is infected.
Lake says those standards are the same ones used by Medecins Sans Frontieres in West Africa and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., which have been dealing with cases of the virus.
His statement comes after the B.C. Nurses' Union said its members aren't ready to respond to Ebola cases because they haven't been trained to care for such patients.
Lake says he's asked provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall to confirm that hospitals have the necessary equipment and training to handle Ebola cases and that protocols are in place to protect health care staff.
Kendall has said his first priority is to make sure health care workers familiarize themselves with personal protective equipment.
