BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- There are mixed messages on whether Massachusetts is ready to handle an Ebola patient, let alone an outbreak.
On Thursday, state lawmakers tackled that issue, while local medical workers tried to up their training to handle the often-deadly virus, responding to a real risk, by practicing on a mock patient.
But whether the state is really ready for Ebola is a state of confusion.
Hospital administrators, dept of public health officials emergency responders, and local lawmakers hashed it out on Beacon Hill today.
"We are confident that we could care for an Ebola patient today," said Patrick Muldoon, president of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
Many nurses say no.
"Nurses are very frightened for themselves to care for patients," said Donna Kelley-Williams, president of the Massachusetts Nurse Association.
Local ambulance companies say the right equipment means nothing, if you use it wrong, and nurses say they need more drills like some EMTs were doing Thursday.
"I got an email from a nurse who is working as we speak, saying, 'I have a bucket with paper suits...no one has provided me with instructions,'" said David Shuildmeier of the Mass. Nurses Association.
The Massachusetts Hospital Association says all of the states hospitals have established policies to contain and treat all types of contagious disease, but also acknowledges there is always more to learn.
