Texas hospital releases emotional video of Nina Pham
'Come to Maryland, everybody! Party! Party in Maryland!' says Ebola-stricken nurse, preparing for move
Nina Pham, one of two Dallas nurses who contracted Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, was moved to a National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Md., Thursday evening. Before Pham was discharged, a doctor recorded a video of his conversation with her.
In the footage, which Pham asked the hospital to share, the 26-year-old critical-care nurse thanks her co-workers from her hospital bed.
"I love you guys," an emotional Pham says in the clip.
"We love you, Nina," her treating physician, Dr. Gary Weinstein, replies.
Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, the other nurse who contracted Ebola, were among 76 hospital workers who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died from the virus. Vinson, 29, was transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta Wednesday. The Atlanta and Bethesda facilities are two of four in the United States specially equipped to handle Ebola.
"Come to Maryland, everybody!" a smiling Pham says as an unidentified woman in a protective suit gives her a tissue to wipe away her tears. "Party! Party in Maryland!"
"We believe that transferring Nina to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the right decision," Texas Health Presbyterian said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "With many of the medical professionals who would normally staff the intensive care unit sidelined for continuous monitoring, it is in the best interest of the hospital employees, nurses, physicians and the community to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next."
The hospital has been sharply criticized for its handling of Duncan, the first person ever diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil. Briana Aguirre, a nurse who helped treat Pham at Texas Health Presbyterian, said staffers never discussed Ebola before Duncan's arrival.
“We never talked about Ebola, and we probably should have,” Aguirre said on NBC's "Today" show on Thursday. "They gave us an optional seminar to go to. Just informational, not hands-on. It wasn’t even suggested we go. ... We were never told what to look for.”
But Pham, a Fort Worth, Texas, native and 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University, released a statement expressing her support for the hospital.
"I’m doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world," Pham said. "I believe in my talented coworkers. I am #presbyproud."