Nurse infected with Ebola was in Ohio visiting family

The nurse infected with the Ebola virus came to the Akron area to visit family, according to the director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
The Associated Press has identifed the nurse as 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson who treated a Dallas patient who later died from Ebola. The nurse was in Ohio from last Wednesday until Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Medical records provided to The Associated Press by Thomas Eric Duncan’s family show Amber Joy Vinson was actively engaged in caring for Duncan in the days before his death in Dallas on Oct. 8. The records show she inserted catheters, drew blood, and dealt with Duncan’s body fluids.
The nurse took Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday, one day before she reported having symptoms. The CDC is urging all 132 passengers from the flight to call a toll-free hotline 1-800-CDC-INFO.
Emilia Sykes of Akron, a high school and college classmate of Vinson who is expected to win election to the Ohio House in November, said Vinson was always interested in the medical field.
“She fulfilled that desire and, from what I know, she’s been a stellar nurse,” Sykes said. “It takes a special person to want to put themselves in that uncertainty and line of danger and she did so courageously. She is very much in my thoughts.”
Sykes also has been using her Twitter account to urge people to get facts on Ebola from the CDC.
“I have a masters degree in public health. One of the hardest things to overcome is lack of information to the public, especially when it’s emotional and scary,” she said. “I’m trying to get people to the correct information.”
Sykes said she is, thus far, satisfied with the steps being taken at the local, state and federal levels.

“This is new to us, and unfortunately things have not been perfect,” she said. “I’m glad they’re being as proactive as they can be. They are doing the best they can to keep it contained and tracking those with direct contact so we can get this under control.”