ATLANTA — The nurse who contracted Ebola at a Dallas hospital was released from Emory University Hospital after successfully beating the deadly virus.
Amber Vinson was admitted to the hospital's Serious Communicable Disease Unit on Oct. 15 and is now virus free.
Vinson arrived in Atlanta from DeKalb Peachtree Airport, then transferred from the specialized private jet to a waiting ambulance.
Vinson read a prepared statement during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
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"I'm so grateful to be well, and first and foremost I want to thank God. I sincerely believe with God all things are possible," Vinson said. "As a nurse and now as someone who has experienced what it’s like to be cared for through a life threatening illness, I'm so appreciative and grateful for your exceptional skill, warmth and care."
She said she will return to Texas and asked for privacy.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says Vinson traveled to Cleveland, Ohio before she knew that the first nurse had been diagnosed. Vinson was self-monitoring at the time.
On Oct. 22, the CDC and Emory University Hospital were no longer able to detect Ebola in her body.
"Amber and our family are ecstatic to receive this latest report on her condition," mother Debra Berry said. "We all know that further treatment will be necessary as Amber continues to regain strength, but these latest developments have truly answered prayers and bring our family one step closer to reuniting with her at home."
The family thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers.
Vinson was the second Dallas health care worker who contracted the deadly virus after treating a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola earlier this month in Texas.
Paramedics talk about transporting Ebola patients
Emory University Hospital has now successfully treated four Ebola patients. The first, Dr. Kent Brantly, arrived nearly three months ago.
Channel 2's Diana Davis sat down with the paramedic team that transported all four patients
It was a first for Atlanta and the nation. Brantly, who was treating Ebola patients at a Liberian hospital, became infected himself.
He was flown to Atlanta then driven to Emory University Hospital by Grady paramedics.
John Arevelo and his team arrived at headquarters knowing only they had a critical transport. He says it was only at that moment that they learned it was an Ebola patient.
“So we just get a text saying we have a mission and it’s a real one,” Arevelo told Davis.
“We got minimal information as to the condition of the patient and stuff like that, but they told us what it was. So it was kinda like routine but it was the real deal. So it’s like the Super Bowl, you train for it and then you actually make it,” Arevelo said.
Arevelo says that minutes before the jet with Brantly aboard landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, that they suited up in their protective gear.
“It's positive pressure, so it pushed all the air out and nothing came in. It filtered through hepa filters. And we are suited up like five minutes before the point of contact,” Arevelo said.
Hours earlier they sealed the ambulance in protective plastic, isolating Brantly from paramedics. Arevelo rode in back across from the patient.
The drive to Emory was surreal, he told Davis. On the drive, the team couldn't see outside but could hear police sirens and TV news choppers hovering overhead.
“There was small talk and he looked good,” Arevelo said about Brantly. He says Brantly sat up the whole way.
Arevelo said he was not surprised when Brantly walked into the hospital. The feeling at the end of that day for him was of some relief but mostly pride.
“I think it’s amazing we were able to help him and that I was part of it and the whole team was a part of it,” Arevelo said.
The team was formed in 2002 shortly after 9/11. It was designed to transport sick CDC workers who might be exposed to biological agents.
“The CDC approached Emory and asked them if they would be willing to care for any of their employees should they come in contact with any kind of Ebola or smallpox, anything that they were working in the labs in hotspots across the United States,” said paramedic Wade Miles.
It turned out that West Africa would be the hotspot. More than 5,000 Ebola deaths have been reported so far and 12,000 cases in total.
But Emory and Grady were ready to treat the nurses and doctors who were infected as they tried to help others.
“I can honestly say no one on the team had any second thoughts about whether they wanted to do it or not,” Miles said.
WSBTV
