Wyoming Department Of Health Says Risk Of Infection At Sheridan Memorial Low

Last year an anonymous whistle-blower alerted officials to concerns over sterilization procedures at Sheridan Memorial Hospital.

The Wyoming Department of Health investigated the complaint and issued the hospital a citation regarding the sterilization of a piece of equipment placed in patients throats undergoing surgery to provide air.

For now the situation has been resolved.  Wendy Braun of the Wyoming Department of Health says she has also strongly recommended Sheridan Memorial notify all patients that were potentially exposed, offer testing for Hepatitis B and C as well as HIV, and offer treatment.

“Certainly there is a risk, but the risk is small,” says Braun. “Nonetheless, because there’s a risk I have made this recommendation, but this isn’t a wide scale thing that affected thousands of patients and is a high likelihood of infection situation.”

Sheridan Memorial Hospital says between 300 and 350 people may have been exposed to the equipment, and officials there say they are working with the state’s health department and the CDC to reach out to patients.