At a time when Maine hospitals are evaluating their ability to deal with Ebola and Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday announced that the state is fully prepared to deal with the disease, the two top state positions charged with monitoring and preventing outbreaks of infectious disease remain vacant.
Maine Center for Disease Control officials say they are interviewing candidates to replace state epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Sears, who resigned in May, and eventually will hire a deputy state epidemiologist.
Some Maine public health officials say they are concerned that the two top jobs are not filled. Ebola has killed thousands in West Africa and recently migrated to the United States, killing a man in Texas and infecting two health care workers who treated him. Earlier this week, Maine Medical Center held a patient in isolation for two days while testing for Ebola. The tests came back negative.
Meanwhile, enterovirus D-68 has sickened nearly 800 people across the country. The virus most severely affects children with asthma.
“We need somebody in that job who has the experience to respond to an infectious disease crisis,” said Tina Pettingill, executive director of the Maine Public Health Association. “We are deeply concerned about these two vacancies.”
Maine CDC director Dr. Sheila Pinette said her office has been working for months to find Sears’ replacement. She hopes to have someone in place by the end of the year.
“We have some good candidates,” Pinette said. “I feel confident with the present situation.”
Sears couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday. LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett did not respond to questions about whether the state could be fully prepared without those experts in place, deferring to Pinette’s response.
The deputy state epidemiologist position also been vacant since late 2013. Pinette said she plans to fill that job as well but could not say when.
Pettingill said she’s concerned that the salary for the top job, between $120,00 and $166,000 depending on education and experience, is too low to lure a good epidemiologist.
“It seems like a lot of money to most people, but to get an experienced physician, that’s not a lot of money,” she said. “It’s a very tough job with a lot of pressure. I know the state is trying to fill the jobs, and I do appreciate their effort.”
Pettingill said the job is especially crucial in Maine. Unlike counties in many other states, Maine counties do not have their own health departments.
“The state is entirely in charge,” Pettingill said. “We don’t have anything else.”
Pinette, who is an internal medicine doctor, is assuming Sears’ role while the job remains vacant.
Julie Sullivan, acting director of the Portland Health and Human Services Department, said Pinette does not have the experience to do the work of an epidemiologist, plus she is busy managing the Maine CDC.
“We are concerned. These are really important positions,” Sullivan said. “Flu season is coming up.”
Pinette said the top epidemiologist job is mostly a public education position and is not involved with treatment of infectious diseases.
“The federal (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is only a phone call away, and we have been working with infectious disease specialists around the state,” Pinette said. “We had a good interim plan in place.”
Meanwhile, LePage on Thursday touted the state’s plan to respond to Ebola.
“The Maine CDC has elevated its monitoring in light of the recent Ebola developments in Texas and is in constant contact with its federal counterparts,” he said in a news release. “We have taken additional steps to ensure to the best of our ability that any suspected cases in Maine will be reported immediately and effective action taken to the extent the law allows to minimize all risk to the public health and safety,”
LePage wrote that the Maine CDC will be taking close note of the travel history of patients to help prevent the spread of Ebola.
While Ebola is a concern, Pettingill said, more common diseases, such as influenza and pertussis, affect many people in Maine and need to be monitored closely.
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