Can Dallas hospital recover from Ebola transmissions?

Until now, the focus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has rightly been on the Ebola patients. But as more cases have sprung up, so has the question: Can the hospital itself recover?

"I worry about the hospital being able to make it through this," says StatSeal representative Rachelle Cohorn, a healthcare vendor. She has been inside the hospital in recent days and reports, "The vibe is pretty much lockdown. It feels like a ghost town. No one is even walking around the hospital."

Doctors confirm their patient loads at Presbyterian have fallen off dramatically as people cancel elective procedures. And the Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said patients have also been avoiding the hospital's emergency room.

"We saw a large drop in the number of people going to Presbyterian," he said.

That is the stigma created by Ebola, and the response to it that allowed two caregivers to fall ill.

Doctors fight the stigma of Ebola, cancellations at Presbyterian hospital. Kevin Reece has the story. WFAA

"Clinical issues, especially infectious diseases like Ebola are probably the worst reputational threat to a hospital", says Alex Normington of Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, a national firm that helps healthcare facilities grow and polish their brands. "A hospital's reputation can take years or generations to build," she said, adding that it can take far less time to erode.

Even a venerable institution like Texas Health Presbyterian is vulnerable. With names like Dealey and Perot adorning its various buildings, the institution has earned accolades in a slew of specialties as it has built a prestigious reputation from opening day in 1966...until the last week of last month.

"If you look at the reputation of this hospital prior to the Ebola event it has been a very good one," contends Steve Love of the DFW Hospital Council.

He acknowledges the hospital has a lot to work through right now, but Love is confident that the prognosis for Presbyterian is still good. "I think this hospital will do well in the future," he said.

Despite repeated messages that they would get back to WFAA with an answer, by the time of this writing, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital did not produce an estimate for the cost the Ebola crisis has taken on the hospital so far.