Nurse Nina Pham, the first person to contract Ebola in the U.S., returned home to North Texas late Friday with a clean bill of health, reassurance from President Barack Obama and the promise of a reunion with her dog, Bentley.
CareFlite pilot Jason Davis confirmed about midnight Friday that Pham had arrived at Fort Worth's Meacham International Airport: "She seemed good -- super nice family. She's in good spirits."
Pham, one of two Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas nurses who caught Ebola while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, was declared virus-free and sent home by the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. Officials also confirmed Friday that her colleague Amber Vinson has tested free of the disease, but they said they didn’t know when she’d be ready to leave Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
Before Pham visited the Oval Office and got a hug from Obama, she expressed gratitude as she left the NIH facility.
“I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family, and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team,” she said. “I am on my way back to recovery, even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate.”
Pham, 26, said she felt “fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” praised the care she received in Dallas and Maryland, asked for her privacy and said all she really wants to do is come home and be reunited with her 1-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
‘Clean bill of health’
Political and medical leaders welcomed her release as a key victory over Ebola, weeks after Duncan’s illness brought the disease raging in West Africa to the U.S. But it came as officials in New York and New Jersey reacted to that area’s first patient, a doctor who had helped treat victims overseas, with a restrictive quarantine for those arriving from Africa.
When the White House learned that Pham would be discharged, aides contacted NIH officials to pass the word that the president would like to meet “if she felt up to it,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
He said Obama wanted to celebrate with her because she had been so selfless in caring for Duncan, the Liberian man who died at Presbyterian.
“She dove into treating this individual without regard for her own health,” he said. “She didn’t get a raise because she did it. She certainly didn’t do it for the glory.”
Earnest said no extra precautions were taken to protect the president. A “clean bill of health” from the NIH is good enough, he said.
‘Great day’ for Dallas
“This is a great day for the city of Dallas,” Mayor Mike Rawlings told The Dallas Morning News. “She’s a hero to all of us.” He also praised the care Pham received at Presbyterian before she was sent to Maryland last week.
Gov. Rick Perry was among those celebrating Friday’s news.
“I ask all Texans to join me in wishing her a full and speedy recovery,” said Perry in a prepared statement. “We thank her for her heroism and selflessness in the battle against Ebola.”
Parishioners at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Fort Worth included prayers of thanks in their evening Mass on Friday. Pham attended the church growing up, and her family still does.
Deacon Michael Hoang said Pham’s mother texted him early Friday with the news that the nurse was going home. He happily started spreading the news among the churchgoers.
“Everything happens for a purpose,” Hoang said. “God allowed this to happen so we can recognize all the wonderful people out there … willing to help other people.”
After the Vietnamese-language Mass, parishioners lingered to talk about the good news, smiles all around.
Bentley has also tested Ebola-free and will probably be released from the former naval air station in Dallas after one more specimen test at the end of his 21-day quarantine period Nov. 1.
In a statement released after the news conference about Pham’s release, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said that despite the dog’s quarantine, Pham will be able to “visit, hold and play with him tomorrow.”
‘Color me cynical’
The tone was less sunny at a House hearing, where lawmakers sharply questioned the extent and efficacy of the effort to prevent the spread of Ebola in the country.
Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said that resources haven’t been properly deployed.
“We all know that the system is not yet refined to where we could say it is working properly,” he said.
Issa also criticized Obama for appointing Ron Klain as his Ebola response coordinator. Issa said that Klain, a lawyer and former aide to two vice presidents, doesn’t have the credentials for the job.
Klain wasn’t at the hearing. Dr. Nicole Lurie, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said she had “a lot of confidence in Mr. Klain,” who has “a tremendous number of doctors [at] his disposal.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., didn’t buy it.
“Color me cynical, it just appears political,” he said. “The next time there’s an opening on the Supreme Court, I want you to see whether the president considers a doctor or a dentist for that job.”
Rep. Michael Turner, an Ohio Republican, said he was “very skeptical” of the Department of Defense protocols to prevent troops from contracting Ebola in West Africa. U.S. forces are there helping with construction and other projects.
Role of troops
Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Lumpkin told Turner that there’s little risk of troops in West Africa catching the virus. He said that the mission will focus on fixing logistical problems, not treating patients.
“Direct patient care of Ebola-exposed patients in West Africa is not a part of the DOD mission,” Lumpkin said. “There is no higher operational priority than protecting our Department of Defense personnel.”
Other members called for putting anyone coming to the United States from West Africa under a mandatory 21-day quarantine. Late Friday, after the hearing, the governors of New York and New Jersey declared that anyone who might have had contact with Ebola patients in Africa — including health care workers — would face just such a measure.
But a quarantine could make it even more difficult to recruit health care workers to West Africa, said Rabih Torbay, senior vice president of International Medical Corps.
Torbay said that his organization is already struggling to get doctors and nurses to come to West Africa. Adding an additional three-week quarantine to their period of service would make it even harder, he said.
Duncan, the Liberian man who became the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died Oct. 8. He had first arrived at the Presbyterian emergency room Sept. 25, but was misdiagnosed and sent home. He returned to the hospital three days later.
Some of the nurses who treated him, in part of an interview with CBS News released late Friday, described their efforts to comfort Duncan in his final days.
“We held his hand and comforted him because his family couldn’t be there,” nurse John Mulligan said. “You can’t take that risk with the type of disease exposing, you know, loved ones, as much as you want them there.”
Staff writers Eva-Marie Ayala in Fort Worth and Todd J. Gillman in Washington contributed to this report.
