Senator Charles Schwertner, MD
Senate District 5
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
October 3, 2014 |
| Contact: Tom Holloway |
(512) 923-5944 |
Schwertner Announces Committee Hearing on State Response to Ebola in Texas
AUSTIN, TX – Today, Chairman Charles Schwertner, MD (R-Georgetown), announced that the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services will be holding an informational hearing to discuss the confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas as well as the state’s level of preparedness in responding to infectious diseases. The hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 7 at the Texas Capitol.
“As legislators, our first duty is to safeguard the health and safety of our citizens,” said Schwertner. “The focus of this hearing is to see that the public has all the facts regarding the Ebola case in Dallas and to ensure that local and state health officials have every resource needed to address this threat quickly and definitively.”
The hearing will provide an overview of the ongoing local, state, and federal response to the confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas. It will also assess the state’s public health infrastructure, evaluate the ability of state and local governments to respond to public health crises, and identify any legislative actions or statutory changes necessary to protect the public from Ebola and other infectious diseases in the future.
Officials from the Texas Health & Human Services Commission (HHSC), Department State Health Services (DSHS), as well as infectious disease specialists from both the University of Texas and Texas A&M University will be on hand to discuss the state response.
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