Health center pays for precautions against AIDS
By Mary Nell Westbrook
Staff Reporter
The cost of using rubber gloves to protect
University Health Center nurses and doctors
from the AIDS virus could double to $8,000 this
year, health center officials said.
Last winter, health center administrators
anticipated the National Center for Disease Con
trol’s guidelines urging increased use of gloves.
The guidelines, released last week, further
define the precautions to be taken to prevent the
spread of infectious diseases such as acquired
immune deficiency syndrome.
The health center presented a request to the
Committee for Fees Allocations for more money
for the purchase of rubber gloves last February,
said Gerald Fleischli, medical director of the
health center.
"The use of rubber gloves has increased ten
fold," he said.
The new guidelines say appropriate precau
tions should be taken when “contact with the
blood or any other body fluids is anticipated.”
The health center uses about five cases of
gloves each month, said Sara Bindrum, medical
supply clerk. The cost ranges from $5 to $15 a
Even dental clinics are using gloves now, so
the manufacturers’ costs are bound to go up,
Bindrum said.
The health center will make up these costs by
slightly raising the cost of each procedure, she
said.
‘Students aren’t aware that this (AIDS) could get to
them here in Lincoln, Nebraska, on campus.’
—Dr. Gerald Fleischli
box of 100 gloves, she said, and they’re getting
harder to find because demand for them is up.
“You can find the $15 boxes easily,” she said.
Last year the health center spent about $4,000
on gloves. Bindrum said she expects that to
double this year.
“The students shouldn’t even notice the
increase,” she said.
The health center is looking for less expensive
gloves, said Kunle Ojikutu, health center admin
istrator.
Because the health center is taking these
added precautions, Fleischli said he hopes stu
dents will do the same.
“Students aren’t aware that this (AIDS) could
get to them here in Lincoln, Nebraska, on cam
pus,” he said. “We need to hammer this into
students over and over.”
Harlan Heald, president of the Nebraska Hos
pitals Association, said the health care commun
ity has been concerned about communicable
diseases for years and most health care facilities
already are following these new guidelines.
“Now the government is finally waking up to
do something that people in health care have
been doing for the past few years," he said.
“The big scare and the precautions stemming
from that occurred for us (health care workers)
two years ago,” Heald said.
Hospitals, nursing homes and dentists are
taking the precautions outlined in the new CDC
guidelines, he said.
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